The Son of Neptune
by winonabcd
Summary: My version of the son of Neptune. A little different than other stories, since Percy travels to find Camp Half-Blood with two Roman friends and not Annabeth and the gang picking him up. Not great with summaries, so uh, enjoy! WRITTEN BEFORE TSON CAME OUT.
1. I: Percy

I

Percy

Percy ran, faster than his legs were taking him. He could feel them, really close. He had woken up one morning, by an abandoned ice cream parlor, wearing a slightly tattered orange t-shirt with faded words. He had eaten everything he could find just to survive starvation. But a few days ago, something found him, and he was running for his life. He had battled them endlessly, not getting enough sleep.

Drowsy, starved and thirsty, Percy ran towards a forest. He fell to his knees, panting, sweaty. There was no way the snake-haired ladies could have caught up with him. But then again, they had found him from time to time for the past two days. Maybe, just maybe, he had outrun them this time. He could rest; catch a few Z's. On the other hand, he could keep running. If he did, he'd lose those freaky ladies in no time. He had a hunch, telling him to keep running. Those ladies aren't going to give up.

But his brain told him otherwise. He hadn't had enough sleep for the past two days. Rest was important, it would keep his brain alive, and something in his mind told him he was going to need energy sooner or later. His energy was drained; he wasn't even able to fight those snake-haired ladies anymore. So he did only one thing – dropped on the floor motionless.

He didn't get much sleep though. Something told him danger was nearby. He clenched his pen. He had no idea where he got it, or how he'd known it was useful the day the ladies started attacking. He got up, moaning. Because of the stupid ladies, he had to keep running. In no less than a second, he sprinted out of the forest. Not safe, his hunch had told him. Got to get out.

Frustrated, Percy ran as fast as he could. He didn't like hanging on for two days, especially without memories. The only thing he could remember was his name, and a girl with blonde hair and stormy gray eyes. He remembered how intense these eyes were when they appeared in his mind. But he wasn't afraid. Those eyes didn't give him the creeps, though it probably would have. Instead, he had a hunch to go find the girl. Her name rang over and over in his mind. So far, it was the only information Percy got.

Suddenly, he heard hissing noises again. "Ssssst…" it said. He grabbed his pen out of his pocket. It seemed like the only natural thing to do. "Who's there?" he demanded. He uncapped the pen, and a three-foot deadly sword appeared instead.

The hissing grew louder. _Was it just some sort of snake? _Percy thought, looking in all directions. _No, _he decided. _There's no way _that's _a snake. _Sure enough, Percy was right.

A snake-haired lady sprang out of the bushes in front of him, while another sprang from behind. The other didn't sprang on top of him, just sprang behind him, standing right behind. Percy turned so that both the freaky ladies were now at his side. He backed away, pointing his sword at them.

"Stupid demigod," one hissed, her eyes were filled with evil laughter. "Should've run when you had a chance." She smirked at this little comment, as if she was hoping to bring Percy's spirits down.

"Gorgons," he said, though he didn't know where he had learned those words. A small headache attacked him, but he tried to fight it back.

The gorgon smirked again. "Head problems, dear?" she hissed, her eyes dancing with delight. Percy couldn't look into her eyes though. He knew something bad would've happened, so he imagined it dancing with delight. But something told him that if he could look, her face would've said, "dying won't hurt".

Percy just shook his head. "Not on my watch, lady." He picked a stone, and threw it, aiming for them both. But since he was afraid to look up, it missed them _terribly_.

The same gorgon laughed. "Is that how you want to play your game, boy?" Before Percy could mutter an answer, she lunged forward.

Percy slashed at her, careful not to look in her eyes. He could see the other one, completely dumbfounded.

"Get over here and help me, Stheno!" the gorgon yelled. The other looked like her sister, probably younger. "He killed our sister, I can smell her blood on him! Yes, it's weak, faded, probably a few years old, but definitely _her_."

Stheno looked uneasy. She looked like she didn't like fighting much, as if she tried to avoid harming Percy. "But Euryale, don't you feel–"

"Quiet you moron, and _help _me!" she hissed at her sister, obviously displeased.

Stheno hesitated for a second, but then helped her sister. Percy struggled to fight two freaks at once. Sure he had a few cuts and bruises in his arm and a few on his feet, but that only made him want to fight even more. He started dodging various attacks, blocking the gorgons. Euryale hissed in frustration. The next thing he knew, everything was blank.

**-TSON-**

Percy woke up to find himself, lying on a bed. His eyes won't open for some reason, like they knew better than to flung open. He could hear noises around him – a murmur of people, people who were either wounded or sick. He could also hear a fire crackling nearby, and the warmth seemed to fill the room.

But two voices were louder than others. "What do you think Lupa will say?" one said, obviously worried sick.

"Let's hope she approves of him," another replied. "It's bad enough we bring a stranger to camp." Camp. That word seemed to have a connection with his past, but he can't seem to remember. He wanted to frown, but his face remained expressionless.

"How old do you think he is?" the first asked. Percy hadn't thought of that question. How old was he? Maybe these people could tell him.

There was no answer. Percy decided it was the best time to wake. He had to, sooner or later anyways. Percy's eyes flew open, and the two people who discussed matters about him looked at him with concern.

"Are you feeling better?" one asked. Percy nodded. He noticed they were in some wooden building. Beds crammed the room, filled with injured people. In front of his bed was a fireplace with a glowing fire, the hearth of the room. Somehow, the thought reminded him of Hestia, the goddess of hearth. He had no idea where the idea came from, or how he knew this information.

Percy concentrated on the people next to him. One was a girl, with chocolate brown hair tied into a ponytail. A few strands of hair fell along the sides of her face messily, but she looked absolutely gorgeous. But somehow, he knew that the girl from his memory, or part of it, was much more prettier. He also had a feeling the girl wouldn't like it if he describe the chocolate-brown-hair girl as "gorgeous".

He looked at the other person, who was also a girl. She had dark, brown hair and stern, dark eyes that tells you to back off. Her hair was in a ponytail as well, but her hair was shorter than the other one. She wore armor, and her face told him that she wasn't to be messed with.

"Where am I?" Percy asked, confused. He felt another headache attack him, and he grabbed his head frantically.

The chocolate brown smiled. "You're in the infirmary," she explained. "We found you almost dead fighting those gorgons. We had no idea what they want with you, but we started attacking them. They looked scared somehow, and they ran away, out of sight. You were unconscious by then, so we took you to the infirmary. You feeling OK?"

Percy looked into her eyes. They were friendly and kind, but kind of sad, too. "Yeah, I guess. Just a minor headache," he explained, holding his head with one hand.

The stern-eyes girl snorted. "Good luck getting better."

Chocolate Brown punched her in the arm. Percy could tell it was a hard hit, but Stern Eyes thought otherwise. "That's not gonna hurt, _Reyna_."

Chocolate Brown, or as Percy now know as Reyna, rolled her eyes. "Like you'd know, _Gwen_."

Stern Eyes, or Gwen, shot her a look, but turned her attention to Percy. As soon as she saw her, Percy only thought of one thing; he was not going to get along great with her.

"I'm Reyna and this is Gwendolyn. But everyone calls her Gwen," Reyna explained, her eyes twinkling with excitement.

Percy nodded. "I'm Percy." Reyna nodded warmly, but Gwen just snorted. Now this girl was starting to bug him.

"Don't mind Gwen. She doesn't get along with strangers very well," Reyna explained, trying to look as calm as possible. Percy just nodded again. Her presence somehow made him lost for words. He couldn't even blink. All he did was stare at her.

Suddenly, Gwen snapped her fingers in front of him. "Weirdo, ever heard of Roman gods?"

"Roman gods?" Percy asked, confused. He had heard of gods before, not sure where exactly. His memory was blurry, so he couldn't blame himself. "I…" he was about to ask if they meant _Greek _gods, but something told him not to ask. "I think so," he finished.

Reyna smiled warmly, causing Percy to once again stare at her. "They're real. They actually exist. They go falling in love with mortals, and have children with them. Their children are called demigods, half mortal, half–"

"–god," Percy finished. "Yeah, I think I've heard about them. Go on."

Reyna smiled again. "Well, it's good that you already know. Anyways, we're demigods. I'm a child of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. Gwen here is a daughter of Mars, god of war," she explained.

Something told Percy that those names were all wrong. He knew different names for them, but he just can't seem to remember them. And he had a strange feeling for this place, even though it was only an infirmary.

Suddenly, a man with goat hooves and short, pointy horns on his head walked heading their way. Percy thought he had seen them somewhere. "Satyrs," he said, not knowing where he got the word.

Reyna suddenly looked uncomfortable while Gwen gave him the death glare. "Fauns," Gwen glared. "Not satyrs."

Percy felt uneasy, as if butterflies were dancing in his stomachs. He knew they were satyrs, and he was sure of it. But Gwen told him not to mention the word again. Well, at least her face did.

"Pansy," Reyna said, looking at the satyr. He was about 5'3, and had curly red hair. He wore a purple t-shirt. On the shirt the words "Camp Legion" were printed out. Percy looked at Reyna and Gwen, and realized they were wearing the same shirt. The satyr stopped walking, and turned his head towards Reyna.

Percy couldn't decide whether to laugh or smack his head on a table, as if he was crazy. A satyr with red curly hair named Pansy. The red curly hair could've been a bed of red pansies, he guessed. But something told Percy that he shouldn't point that out.

"We found this demigod in the forest, fending off for himself. He had a weapon in his hand, so we figured he was a demigod. We thought he was already claimed because of the sword, but…" her voice trailed off. Her eyes looked at his forearm, looking for something. "We figured he must have stolen the sword somehow. But the sword… it wasn't even made of gold."

Pansy stroked his miniature beard. Percy hasn't even noticed that yet. Pansy was thinking hard. "You'll need to see Lupa, hear what she has to say."

Reyna's expression darkened. She didn't seem too happy at the thought, and Percy wondered why. "Who's Lupa?" Percy managed.

Reyna tried to answer warmly, but couldn't. No words came out, not even a single mutter. Gwen rolled her eyes. "Looks like Ms. Perfect decided to show fear. Anyways, Percy," she snapped. "Lupa is the head of Camp Legion."

"Camp Legion?" What was it with camps? It seemed like he should remember a camp from somewhere, but just couldn't. Was _this _the camp?

Reyna nodded. "A camp for demigods, like you, Gwen and I. We have help as well, as you can see," Reyna tried to talk soothingly, but couldn't. Gwen started to laugh. Reyna shot her a look, and Gwen decided not to continue laughing.

"Come on," Reyna said. "Let's take you to Lupa." She sighed, as she walked out the infirmary.

Gwen gave Percy a cold look. "Do not show fear, and I mean it," she snapped at him, before heading off. Pansy gave him an uncomfortable look, so he decided to go after them.

**-TSON-**

The two girls led Percy towards a cave, somewhere in the hills. Reyna walked in first, not showing a hint of fear. _Pretty good actress_, Percy thought, though he didn't want to share it. Gwen was standing next to him, her eyes giving him death looks once in a while. Percy started fiddling with his hands, not able to stay still. He was nervous, not afraid.

"Calm down, freak," Gwen grumbled, a little kinder. Percy just smiled a little, telling her he's trying. Gwen just glanced at him then looked away.

Reyna came out, telling Gwen to come in. Gwen looked like she had been through this quite a lot, since her expression appeared calm and steady. But there was something in her face that always screamed, "I'm ready for battle!"

Percy fiddled with his hands. This time, he wasn't nervous or scared. He just had to move around. Soon, he started to walk quietly, trying to release the amount of energy he had. But he didn't have any energy stored. Was he hyper? No, that couldn't be it. He sighed with frustration. His life wasn't getting any easier.

Reyna stepped outside for a second, telling him to come inside. The cave could give someone the creeps. It was dark and cold. Tattered fabric hung on the walls. Percy took a closer look. Silver fabrics, he recognized. They glowed mysteriously, giving the place an icy look. As they walked further in, the cave grew friendlier. Silver fabrics no longer hung on the wall, and a fire gave the cave a cozy feeling. Percy's worries faded, looking at the fire warmly. Another hearth.

A wolf, and a huge one, made its way over to Percy. It had orange-red fur and a stern face. But something in its face had a comforting welcome look as well. The wolf's nose twitched, then its ears flapped. Its tails started wagging, like it was trying to tell Percy something.

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand," Percy explained.

Reyna looked at him in disbelief. Gwen stared at him, not understanding why. But the wolf didn't look surprised. Instead, it looked at Reyna and gave a few more nose twitches and tail wags. Reyna nodded, and turned to Percy.

"Lupa told me to translate for you," she explained. Percy just nodded.

Lupa twitched its nose, wagged its tail and did a bunch of other stuff. Percy still didn't understand. Reyna seemed to be watching the movements carefully. Finally, she nodded. "Percy, this is Lupa, the head of Camp Legion. She's using the wolf language right now," Reyna explained.

Percy looked at Lupa. Her comforting welcome look faded a little, like she knew who he was. Percy didn't want to shoot the question right away, so he simply nodded.

Lupa said something in wolf, and Reyna nodded again. "She's asking for your name and your past."

Percy's face darkened. "A-all I know is my name, which is Percy Jackson. As for my past–" Percy frowned. "I don't remember. I just woke up in front of an ice cream parlor, and gorgons started attacking me, claiming I had killed their sister, which I hadn't. They kept telling me they smell her blood on me. Then Reyna and Gwen brought me here, after I became unconscious."

Gwen looked at him, surprised. She didn't ask any questions, though. Reyna was the one who asked a question. "You don't even remember your age?"

Percy shook his head. "No. Like I told you, I don't remember anything." Percy sighed, looking uncomfortable.

Gwen's eyes filled with jealousy. Finally, she glared at him and barked for an answer. "You killed Medusa?"

Percy shifted uncomfortably. He suddenly had the urge to move a lot. "I don't know. I told you, I don't remember my past."

Reyna looked at Lupa, who started to speak wolf. "Lupa asks for what the gorgons exactly said," Reyna translated, but she sounded demanding.

Percy rummaged through his memory. What had they say? "He killed our sister, I can smell her blood on him! Yes, it's weak, faded, probably a few years old, but definitely _her_," Percy told them, remembering.

Gwen was angry. "A few years old? When did you kill it?" she demanded an answer. Gwen's face was filled with rage, and jealousy danced in her eyes. Percy could tell she wished she had done it.

Lupa talked to Gwen in wolf, and she immediately calm down. But her eyes were still filled with rage and jealousy; Percy didn't want to be close around her for some time.

Lupa talked in wolf again, talking to Reyna and Gwen. They both nodded, and Gwen pushed Percy out of the cave. Reyna caught him before he stumbled, and Gwen lost her rage and jealousy. Apparently, Reyna had given her a comforting look, making Gwen calm down.

"You know, you could stop doing it. You're good enough by now," Gwen grumbled.

Reyna and Percy shared the same expression on the faces. "What?" they both asked in unison.

Gwen rolled her eyes at them. "Charmspeaking, idiots," she muttered under her breath. "Look, I'm just going to go to my cabin. I've had enough of you guys, especially _him_." She pointed at Percy then stormed away.

Reyna sighed. "Come on, let's just get you to the Mercury cabin. You can stay there until you're claimed."

"Claimed?" Percy thought for a while. This term seemed familiar as well.

Reyna nodded. "Yes, claimed. Your godly parent will claim you, sooner or later."

Percy nodded, and followed Reyna to the mercury cabin down below. Something told him he wasn't supposed to be here. Something told him he was on enemy grounds.


	2. II: Percy

II

Percy

The Mercury cabin was probably the biggest cabin in the camp. From the outside, it looked like any regular cabin; a simple wooden building that looked perfect for a camping trip. Grass grew at the sides of the cabin. It looked rather peaceful. But when Percy walked inside, well, let's just say he got a huge surprise.

Bunk beds were scattered all around the room messily. Some were on the right, some on the left and some where in the corners. On the walls were huge flat screen TVs, which were connected to several video games like Xbox, PlayStations, Wiis, and more. All sorts of electronics can be found everywhere, making the room look like a complete mess. Candy wrappers and bits of food lied untouched on the ground, along with the dirty laundry.

Reyna sighed. "I've never liked going to this cabin," she said. Percy could see why, and couldn't understand how they were able to sleep in this mess.

Reyna walked over to a guy with spiky blonde hair and tanned skin. He had piercing blue eyes and a crooked smile. Reyna coughed, and the guy turned around.

"Reyna!" he greeted, giving her a hug. She sighed at this, as if she hadn't had one for quite a while. "What brings you here?"

"Newcomer," she simply said. "Undetermined."

The guy nodded. "You know you can go now. I know you hate this place." He chuckled as Reyna gave a huge sigh of relief. She nodded and smiled at Percy, then left the cabin.

"Welcome to the Mercury cabin," the guy greeted Percy. Percy felt as if this had happened before. The process seemed to be completely familiar. "I'm Frank, head of the Mercury cabin and counselor of the fourth legion."

"Fourth legion?" Percy asked, not knowing what that meant.

Frank nodded. "Soon, you will have a battle with one of the campers here and the result of the battle will determine your skill. We will decide if your skill is either good enough for the first, second, third, or fourth, or maybe needs more improvement. If you do need more improvement, you stay in the fifth," Frank explained, staring outside the window every once in a while.

Percy nodded, not knowing what else to do. "So, where's my bunk?"

Frank chuckled, realizing he hadn't told him that yet. "Oh, since we don't know which legion you're in, we'll put you in a bunk for the fifth legion. Is that OK?"

Percy nodded once again. "Yeah, fine by me."

Frank guided him through the maze of beds. "There." Frank pointed to a bunk in the corner. "The fifth legion area. Of course, the other cabins aren't this messy. They usually have rooms and such to determine the legion, but Mercury likes to have it this way," he grinned with pride. "Anyways, it's almost time for dinner, so why don't you just get yourself settled in?" And with that, he disappeared into the sea of beds.

**-TSON-**

Reyna met Percy just outside the Mercury cabin. "Come on, I'll take you to the dining pavilion," she said.

Percy noticed her eyes were now filled with grief and loneliness. Tears almost sprang out of her eyes. "Reyna?" Reyna turned to look at him. Yep, tears were about to flood out. "I know we just met and everything, but you look like you're gonna cry. What's wrong?"

Reyna sniffed. "I… I'll tell you later. I'll probably just burst into tears anyways," she said.

Percy nodded and followed her to the dining pavilion. Frank waved at him from a table. "Frank will tell you where to sit," Reyna said. "If you need me, I'll be at Venus' second legion table." She walked over to a wooden picnic table. It was pinkish-purplish table with little ribbons dangling at the sides.

Percy walked over to Mercury's fourth legion table, where Frank was sitting. Mercury's tables were different from Venus' tables. They looked like typical wooden picnic tables that you'll probably find just about anywhere.

"I know, Mercury's tables are plain, huh? But Mercury likes it," he said, beaming with pride. His companions cheered in agreement. "Anyways, your table is over there. That's Mercury's fifth legion table, and you can sit there until you're determined." He pointed at a table in a group of tables at the other end of the pavilion.

"Are those the fifth legion tables?" Percy asked, now noticing that the tables were all different.

Frank nodded. "Have a good meal. Lupa will soon be here," Frank explained, sitting back down.

Percy made his way to the group of fifth legion tables. He noticed that no one in the pavilion has eaten yet. _Probably waiting for Lupa, _he thought, before sitting down. Mercury's fifth legion consisted of thirteen campers. They were constantly secretly stealing each other's food when the other didn't notice.

Suddenly, everyone stopped talking and looked at the center of the pavilion; a circular clearing. Lupa stood in the middle of the clearing, speaking wolf. Percy didn't quite understand, but he pretended to understand as well.

Finally, when Lupa was done, everyone raised his or her cup. Percy followed and shouted, "For the gods!" along with the rest of the pavilion. Then everyone started eating.

Percy stared at his food, like he knew they were supposed to be doing something before they had eaten. Suddenly, as if on cue, a memory flashed in his mind, campers taking part of their food and throwing them into a fire as an offering for the gods. Percy waited 'till everybody left. When they did, he put his food on a paper plate, and ran into the forest.

Percy looked around; making sure no one was following him. He made a fire and threw part of his food in it. "For the gods," he whispered. He then ate the rest of his food, before putting the fire out and heading back to his cabin.

**-TSON-**

"There you are Percy!" Reyna exclaimed in frustration when he finally arrived at his cabin. "Where have you been?"

"Just, exploring camp," he quickly lied. Reyna looked unsure, but bought it anyways.

"Lupa told me your fight is going to be tomorrow at noon, giving you enough time to practice," she explained.

"What are the rules?" Percy asked.

"No rules, really. Except you can't kill anyone," Reyna said. "Oh, and you can bring any weapon you'd like."

Percy nodded. They stayed in silence, unsure of what to do or say. Percy decided to break the silence and ask the question he had wanted to ask for a long time. "So, about that question I asked…" Percy said, shifting uncomfortably.

Reyna sighed. "It's only fair you know. I guess you're starting to become a friend now," she shrugged, slapping her arms for mosquitoes. "There was this boy, uh, Jason. He was the only one in the first legion, thus becoming our camp leader. He disappeared three days before you arrived, and everyone's fussing over it." She looked like she was about to cry again.

"Was he your, uh, boyfriend?" Percy asked. "It's OK if you don't want talk about it."

Reyna shook her head. "It's fine. No, he wasn't my boyfriend, but I wish… I wish…"

"You wish he was," Percy finished for her. A teardrop made its way down her face. She nodded sadly. "It's gonna be OK, Reyna. He's gonna come back."

Reyna smiled at this. "Well, I should leave now. More training tomorrow, and I don't want to be late," she said, leaving Percy alone in front of his cabin. "Goodnight."

Percy smiled. "Goodnight."

**-TSON-**

Percy had another dream, a dream about his past. In the dream, a centaur stood in front of him. He was a man waist up and a white stallion waist down. He had a short beard, and his horse part was covered in mud and grass.

"Chiron?" he asked, unsure how he knew it was the old centaur.

The centaur didn't reply. He was talking to a girl with long golden curls and stormy gray eyes. Her face was serious, but she looked amazing. _Annabeth, _he remembered. She was the one who was always on his mind.

"We need to find him soon Chiron," she insisted. "We need to find him."

Chiron looked uneasy. "I know you're worried about him, but we don't have a clue to where he is," Chiron sighed.

Suddenly the dream changed. A boy that looked surprisingly like him lay unconscious, while a girl that looked exactly like Annabeth was caring for him. They both look about twelve. The boy was scrawny and unfit for battling, while the girl looked like she had trained all her life.

The girl fed the boy something that looked like pudding, scraping off drips off his chin. The boy woke up a few times, but he almost immediately passed out once he woke. The girl continued to feed him, scraping off the drips while smirking.

Finally, the boy's eyes slowly opened. When the girl saw this, she immediately took the opportunity to ask, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"

The boy managed to choke out, "What?"

The girl looked around, making sure no one was listening. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and the girl quickly fed him a spoonful of pudding. With that, she left.

Percy woke up, feeling dizzy once more. The boy and the girl… it was a memory of when Annabeth and Percy when they were both still twelve. Probably when they first met. But what was stolen?

He shook his head, trying to shake off the thought with no luck. He climbed out of bed, and saw a purple t-shirt and jeans laid out for him. He got up and changed into the new clothes.

Reyna met him outside with Gwen and another girl he didn't recognize. She looked Spanish with curly dark hair and fair skin. Her blue eyes were friendly in a way.

"This is Hazel," Reyna introduced. "And no, she has no Spanish descendant," Reyna continued, as if she was reading Percy's mind.

"Hazel, nice to meet you," the girl said, holding out her hand more him to shake. "I'm a daughter of Apollo."

Percy shook her hand. "Apollo? You mean Artemis' twin?"

Hazel stopped shaking hands and looked uncomfortable. "If you mean Diana, then yes. We rarely use Greek names here, we're rather, uh, sensitive about them," Hazel explained.

"Oh," Percy added, feeling a little uncomfortable. "Sorry."

Hazel smiled forgivingly before turning to her friends. "OK, now come on, I want to eat!" she complained.

Percy was shocked from the change of attitude. One minute she was calm and down-to-earth, and the next minute she was hyper and energetic. Reyna laughed at Percy's face, while Gwen started chuckling to herself.

"Hazel, you're scaring him!" Reyna pointed out, still laughing at Percy's expression.

Hazel blushed. "Sorry," she whispered. Percy chuckled to himself and smiled forgivingly. "OK, come on. I want to eat."

Percy followed the rest of the girls to the dining pavilion to eat. As soon as they said their temporary goodbyes, they sat down at their respective tables to eat.

**-TSON-**

Percy followed Frank to the swords arena. "Reyna told me about you using swords. She suggested you practice your skills here in the arena before your fight," Frank said. "Grab a sword. I'll help you practice."

Percy looked at the selection of swords, trying to choose the right one. But none of them suited him, so he took out his pen. "Mind if I use this?"

Frank looked at him, confused. "Percy, if you haven't noticed, this is a sword arena, where you fight with things called swords."

"I know," Percy shrugged. "This is a sword."

"Perce, that's a _pen_."

Percy chuckled, uncapping the pen to reveal a three-foot metal blade. "See?"

Frank stepped back, surprised. He stumbled and fell on his butt. He chuckled, looking at the sword. "That's one fine sword," he said. "What's it called?"

"Anaklusmos, Riptide," Percy said.

Frank shook his head. "That's not Latin, is it?"

Percy shrugged. "I have no idea." Percy pointed the blade at Frank, who was still on the ground. "Let's fight."

As far as Percy could tell, Frank was having trouble keeping up with Percy's swordsmanship, which was pretty good. Every once in a while, Percy would use a move that no Roman Camper ever used, making Frank wrinkle his eyebrows.

In the end, Percy caught him off guard, and hit his sword away. He pointed his sword at Frank's neck, leaving him to do nothing but raise his hands in defeat.

"You're pretty good for a beginner, Perce," Frank complimented as they sat down and drank bottles of water. "Where did you learn those moves?"

Percy wiped a sweat from his forehead. "I don't know," he admitted. He was tired to saying those three words all the time. "I told you, I woke up one day, not knowing who I was. I only knew my name."

Frank sighed, shrugging. "Maybe it'll eventually come to you. I'm sure," he said. He looked at Riptide, which was still lying next to Percy. "That's not gold, is it?"

Percy looked at Riptide. "Nope. Celestial Bronze, the metal you can only find on Olympus," Percy replied, admiring his own sword.

"Wait, do you mean Olympus as in, the Mt. Olympus in Greece?" Frank asked.

Percy laughed. "No, man. From Olympus, the home of the gods."

"Isn't that like, in Greek?"

Before Percy could answer, there was a conch horn, signaling time for Percy's battle. Frank patted him on the back. "Good luck man, I'll be watching from the stands."

**-TSON-**

The fight was held in the sword arena. Everyone was talking about Percy's blade as soon as they saw it. Percy grabbed a shield and put on a Roman armor. It was surprisingly heavy, heavier than the Greek armor. Wait, how did he know that? He shook his head and the thought dissolved into thin air.

Lupa walked to the center of the stage, talking in wolf. When she was done, a boy stood up. "I'll challenge him!"

Everyone looked at him, and Lupa talked in wolf. The boy climbed down, and Lupa talked a little more in wolf. Finally, a conch horn sounded, signaling the battle to begin.

It was pretty tough at first. Percy tried dodging his attacks, but was pretty useless. He had to either intercept it with Riptide, or protect himself with his shield. He searched for an opening, only to find none. _What would Annabeth do at a time like this?_

Suddenly, his instincts went on. Annabeth's voice rang in his head. _You're invulnerable, _she said. _You can defeat him with ease. _Percy charged at him, not knowing what he was doing. He didn't remember attacking him, but he did remember getting tired. He was exhausted, as if his energy had been drained. Percy was careful not to let him stab his back, which was covered in armor.

Percy watched as his challenger aim his sword at Percy. _This would cost a lot of damage,_ he thought, imagining the huge cut he would get. But instead, the sword bounced right off Percy, as if he was made of rubber.

"What? That's impossible!" the boy yelled.

Suddenly, someone shouted from the stands. "Percy, watch out! You're in the area where the water is about to rush out and form a river!" Percy didn't stop to wonder who was telling him this. He did something no one would do. He dropped his sword and shield, and looked directly and the boy. A smile crept up his face as everyone stood and watched him not move a muscle.

Then it came; the rush of water that formed a river. It was probably something that had always happened during a camper's first fight, because no one was shocked about the water. They were all shocked to see Percy, standing at the centre.

"He's done for sure!" one shouted from the stands.

The opponent smiled, thinking he was committing suicide. Percy raised his arms to the side. Immediately, the water stopped rushing towards him, stopping in its tracks. A murmur started breaking out in the stands, while the boy just looked at him, speechless. Shock covered the entire stadium.

Percy put both hands in front of him, and the water sprang from each side of him, directly at his opponent. His opponent got hit with the water, causing him to lose his grip on his sword. Percy quickly ran and grabbed his own sword, Riptide, and pointed it at his opponent who lay defenseless. At first, no cheer erupted. But suddenly, everybody cheered.

Reyna walked over with Lupa to the place where Percy was standing. "I believe Percy knows who he is," Reyna said, smiling sweetly.

Percy smiled back and raised his sword in the air. The river clashed furiously as he did so. "I'm Percy Jackson, son of Neptune, god of the seas!"

More cheering echoed in the stadium. His opponent stood up, grinning. "Well, that's awesome. You're the first son of Neptune," he said. He took out his hand. "I'm Bobby, son of Mars."

Percy smiled and took his hand, shaking it. "Percy, but I guess you already figured that out," he said.

Percy listened to the amount of roaring and clapping. It felt great to have accomplished something, but he felt uneasy as well. _They are the enemy, _Annabeth's voice said in his mind. _They are the enemy._


	3. III: Annabeth

III

Annabeth

Annabeth frowned, staring at the diagram of the flying ship. Sure, it was amazing and all that, but finishing it in three weeks? No, that seemed impossible. She sighed, watching the Hephaestus kids build the ship, following Leo's orders.

It's been five months and one week since Jason, Piper and Leo had come back from their last quest. Jason had figured out who he was, and where Percy might be. For the past five months, she was tempted to go and find him, but Chiron insisted that she should wait. Great, another three weeks and she'll be out of here. But honestly, the boat looked nowhere from finished.

She trudged out of Bunker 9 and headed for her cabin. Her boyfriend had gone missing six months ago, and nothing seemed to be right after that. She had changed. She didn't feel like reading or even designing plans for Olympus. She didn't eat or sleep. Well, maybe she did, but she didn't even want to. All she could think of was finding Percy, end of sentence.

Malcolm was kind enough to actually help her with her duty as a counselor. She finally reached her cabin and immediately slumped onto her bunk. She sighed, burying her head in her pillow. She didn't want to cry. She just wished he were here.

"Hey, you OK?" a voice said.

Annabeth looked up to see Piper, a daughter of Aphrodite and one of the seven that would go to Greece. Annabeth sighed when she saw her. She was really good at reading expressions, so there was no point in lying about her current state. "Just thinking," she simply said.

Piper looked uncomfortable and started running her hands through her unevenly chopped hair. "Percy?" She knew it was a touchy subject. Annabeth couldn't blame her.

Annabeth's face darkened a little. "Yeah," she admitted. "I just wish we could go sooner. What if he is enjoying the Roman Camp? What if he forgot all about me? Or even worse, what if he has another girlfriend?"

"Don't worry. I'm sure he doesn't have another girlfriend." Her voice was so convincing, Annabeth almost believed her. Until she remembered Piper had the ability to charmspeak, of course.

"Yeah," she simply replied, forcing a smile. Piper smiled back, but she could tell she could see far beyond her smile.

"I guess I should leave you now," she said. "I'm going to practice using my knife." Annabeth's gaze followed Piper's hand, as Piper patted the sword on her belt. Katoptris was Piper's blade. Looking glass, or in other words, mirror.

She remembered how she and Piper were much alike. Her 'losing' her 'boyfriend' when she first came to camp, the way she chose to rather fight with a knife, the fact that she loved reading facts. All in all, she was like Annabeth. She smiled at the thought.

Piper smiled before leaving Annabeth with her thoughts. Annabeth took out her own knife; the knife her old pal Luke had given her when she was only seven. She decided to practice as well. She thought about Piper's knife, then her mind drifted to Percy's sword. She sighed at the thought. The way Piper's knife had a name reminded her of Percy's sword. Anaklusmos, she remembered. She rushed outside to find Piper.

**-TSON-**

"OK, now slash," Annabeth told Piper, as they practiced slashing and stabbing Greek dummies.

Piper and Annabeth had spent the whole afternoon practicing, from knives to arrows and back to knives. They were constantly slashing and stabbing. Piper wasn't as good as Annabeth when it came to bows and arrows, but she had no trouble with knives.

"Now stab," Annabeth told her, and they started stabbing and slashing. After a while, Annabeth came up with an idea. "How good are you at throwing knives?"

"Terrible."

Annabeth chuckled. "I'll show you how," she told her, walking away from the Greek dummy. With a quick swing, the knife landed on the most dangerous part of a man, the heart. Piper gasped as Annabeth took her knife back.

"How did you–" she began, but Annabeth started chuckling. "Impressive."

Annabeth smiled at that comment. Piper was the only one who tried to make her happy. Sure, her brothers and sisters tried as well, but no one managed to make Annabeth smile. And it _did_ feel good to smile after such a long time.

"I want to go practice shooting arrows again. Wanna come?" Annabeth offered, but Piper shook her head. "I've had enough of arrows," she replied, and Annabeth laughed. She slid her knife in her belt, and waved at Piper. She ran towards the archery and grabbed a bow and a couple of arrows.

**-TSON-**

_Whoosh! _The arrow landed a bull's eye. Annabeth continued doing this, walking further and further from the target. She couldn't help imaging the target as Hera's face. She was angry with her for taking her boyfriend, the only person in her life that chose not to abandon her. He _did_ turn down immortality to stay with her.

_Whoosh! _Another bull's eye. _Whoosh! _And there goes another one. "You're pretty good with a bow," a boy commented.

Annabeth turned to see Will Solace, the counselor for the Apollo cabin. "How's the ship going?" That was the question she tried to avoid all day. She wanted the stupid ship to be done, so they could go to the Roman Camp and find Percy. Jason said it was somewhere in San Francisco. That was where her family lived.

"Great," she managed, keeping her expression cool. Luckily, Will wasn't that good at seeing through fake expressions. "Cool." He shot an arrow from even further where Annabeth was standing. Of course, it was a bull's eye.

"I'm sure you'll find Percy," he said, shooting another arrow. This was the problem. Every time someone tried to cheer her up, they would mention the name she didn't want to hear. They just _had _to mention that name. Piper tried to avoid it, using the words _him _or _the guy_ when needed. She'd only mention his name once, and that was always during their first conversation of the day. Sometimes, she decided not to bring it up, and others, just like earlier today, she felt like it was best to bring it up.

Annabeth stopped shooting arrows. "Yeah," she simply said, putting her bow away. "I better check on my cabin."

Will nodded at her and continued shooting arrows, hitting more bull's eye one after another. Annabeth ran towards her cabin. She didn't want to make Malcolm do all the work, just because she was feeling miserable. He had already done her chores for two whole weeks, while she was busy trying to get _him _out of her mind.

She got there just in time. Malcolm had told everyone to quickly tidy his or her bunk up for inspections. She looked at her bunk, noticing how messy it was. Well, it wasn't as messy as everyone else's, since she had given up reading, studying or designing. Her bed wasn't made in a long time, and her pillow looked like an old person's face; full of wrinkles. Annabeth sighed, and took her pillow and dumped it in the laundry basket. She filled then grabbed a clean pillow from a cupboard, where they kept fresh pillows, blankets, and bed covers. She folded her blankets and made sure the crumpled tissue she had thrown on the floor had been picked up.

After taking one last look at her bed, she was relieved. At least her bed didn't look as bad as the last time. She grabbed a cloth and helped her two of her half-sisters polish the Greek armors that hung below each window, while three of her half-brothers cleaned the windows.

After some hard work, Lacy and Piper from the Aphrodite cabin came to do inspections. It was actually Lacy's turn to do inspections, but Annabeth guessed that Piper was kind enough to accompany her, since it was Lacy's first time.

"Four out of five," Lacy declared happily. Of course, Aphrodite's kids were absolute neat freaks. But Annabeth could see why they had gotten a four out of five. No one really bothered the laundry basket, and messy piles of dirty laundry lay around the basket. A couple notes were messily laid on the desks, and pencils were tumbling out of a pencil box. Piper smiled at Annabeth apologetically, because of her neat freak of a half-sister.

Annabeth smiled back, and mouthed, '_See you at dinner?'_ Piper nodded back, keeping her smile. With that, she and Lacy left the cabin, heading towards the rest of the cabins they had yet to inspect.

"All right, cabin six, FALL IN!" Annabeth yelled, just as the conch horn sounded. Everyone lined up according to seniority, and they walked outside in an orderly manner. Once they reached the dining pavilion, however, they quickly dispersed sitting on either ends of the table. The table was circular and huge.

Annabeth watched as the campers entered the dining area one by one. She saw Clarisse leading the Ares cabins with torches and putting them out by slamming the burning end onto the table.

The Aphrodite cabin walked in as well, giggling and chattering about the latest celebrities and gossips. Piper was the only one annoyed by this, and she constantly rolled her eyes at them, but flashed smiles at her half-sister Lacy and half-brother Mitchell once in a while.

One by one, the campers entered, in either in a single file or a bunch of groups, like the Aphrodite kids. Once everyone was settled in, the wood nymphs brought in the food, steak and a range of vegetables. Annabeth looked at her goblet. "Water," she mumbled. The goblet immediately filled itself with fresh, clean water. Usually she would've asked for coke or juice, but she'd been drinking plain water since _his _disappearance.

She took the whole steak, and put it on a silver tray. She followed her siblings, walking towards the pavilion fire. They burnt their food one by one, making silent prayers. When it was her turn, she muttered, "Athena." She thought for a while and said, "and Hera. Help me find Percy, please. If not, keep him safe, until we can go find him." Her eyes were about to shed tears. _No, _she said, _you have to be strong. _She quickly blinked back the tears and walked over to her siblings.

She quickly ate her vegetables up, and drank the glass of water. She left the dining pavilion and decided to take a walk on the beach. She sighed, and forced herself there. Usually, if she had any problems, she would've told _him _all about them, and he would reassure her, taking all her problems away. But as far as she was concerned, _he_ wasn't there to help her, not this time.

Sitting down at the edge of the ocean, she remembered everything they've ever been through. Their first quest, the time they had to retrieve Zeus' Lighting Bolt. The second one, and the third, and then the fourth, the battles the faced – all of them flashed in her mind. The tides slowly made its way to her feet, soaking her feet with the ocean water.

She didn't mind. She loved the ocean. Whenever she looked at the ocean, she remembered Percy, his sea-green eyes, his laugh, and the silver streak in his jet-black hair that marked the time they had held the weight of the sky. She heard laughter in the distance, and instinctively, she followed the direction the laugh was coming from.

Two figures, laughing and sharing jokes. The girl would push the boy a little, playfully of course. They continued laughing, while the boy pointed out at the constellations in the starry sky. They reminded her too much of her and Percy. She blinked back the tears and rushed towards her cabin. If only – if only three weeks could zoom by faster than lightning, then everything would be alright.


	4. IV: Piper

IV

Piper

Piper woke up the next morning, smiling wildly. Last night had to be the best night ever. After all, she spent most of it laughing on the beach with Jason. She sighed as she thought of his name, but frowned. This Aphrodite thing was coming to her again. It was like a contagious disease; no matter how much you try, you always end up getting it anyways. Well, at least for an Aphrodite kid.

Piper looked around her cabin. Her half-sisters were still sleeping. The girls' and boys' section was separated by a curtain, and was opened once everybody was awake.

Piper grabbed an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and a pair of tattered jeans. It was the jeans she had worn during her first quest. Looking down at the holes, she remembered the pain when she fell through the roof of a warehouse in Detroit. Her toes… they weren't supposed to be like the way it had been. Piper shook her head, dismissing the thought.

After changing in the bathroom, she combed her hair, and put on a pair of flip-flops. She tied her hair in a ponytail, with several short strands hanging at the side of her face. She didn't really care what she looked like, but ever since she was claimed, she did mind her appearance, well, at least a little.

Once she was out of the bathroom, she saw that the curtain was opened, revealing her five half-brothers. Everybody else was busy and about, sorting clothes, tidying beds, and trying to match their shoes with their outfits. Piper sighed. This was a regular day in the Aphrodite cabin.

Piper threw her pajamas into the laundry basket. The Aphrodite cabin always had five laundry baskets; one for pillows, blankets, etc., one for jeans, shorts, etc., one for underclothing, one for shirts, tees, tanks, etc., and finally one for pajamas and nightwear. Piper laughed at the fact that they had to organize their dirty laundry as well. _Neat freaks, _she silently told herself.

After throwing her clothes into the different laundry baskets, she made her bed. She picked up trash off the floor, and picked up the magazines her half-sisters spent all night reading. She stacked them on a shelf, where they put their magazines.

Once the cabin looked like a giant Barbie Doll House again, Piper ordered everyone to line up. She and Mitchell, her half-brother and second-in-command, checked everyone's bunks, making sure they were neat and tidy. Of course, everything was, but there was always someone saying, "The pillow's not in the middle!" or "I see a crumpled paper on the floor!" Everything had to be perfect.

"Alright, you guys can go now," Piper said, telling her siblings to go to the dining pavilion for breakfast. Sure enough, the conch horn sounded right after that.

Piper watched as her siblings headed towards the dining pavilion in pairs or threes. "You coming, Pipes?" Lacy asked.

Piper shook her head. "I'm going to go to the Athena cabin first. I'll see you later." Lacy was hesitant, but nodded her head. She headed outside with Mitchell, who promised to make sure everyone was present for breakfast.

**-TSON-**

She walked out of her cabin and headed two cabins down. Piper stopped at the doorway to see if Annabeth's half-brothers and sisters were sleeping, but found them lining up for Annabeth's famous morning inspections. She decided it wasn't the best time to disturb Annabeth, so she walked over to the dining pavilion to have breakfast.

"Our cabin was informed to lead the red team!"

"No, ours was!"

Piper was shocked to see a fight going on during breakfast. That usually never happens. Piper watched the two teams, the Ares cabin and the Apollo cabin, fight for the leadership rights during tomorrow's "Capture the Flag".

"What's going on?" Annabeth stood next to her, watching the commotion. "Is it about the leadership rights again?" She sighed, shaking her head.

Piper didn't reply. She was staring at Leo and Jason, whose tables were close to the fight. She didn't want them getting hurt, but she didn't want to use charmspeak to charmspeak the two from fighting. That'll only make them angry at the Aphrodite cabin.

When Piper thought all hope was lost, she heard a loud "_BOOM!" _separating the two cabins from the fight. She looked up to see the Apollo and Ares cabins, frantically closing their ears to stop the loud pang of pain in their ears. Annabeth, who was beside her, was holding a bow, and she looked like she just shot an arrow.

"Can't you two stop? Didn't you learn your lesson from the last time?" Annabeth asked, throwing the bow to the ground.

The Apollo kids shifted nervously, while the Ares kids rolled their eyes. Piper scanned the crowd for their counselors, only to find Will Solace, counselor of the Apollo cabin, in the crowd of Apollo kids. Clarisse was sitting down on the table, looking terrifyingly bored. "You know, you're making dad look bad guys," she mumbled.

The Ares kids immediately felt ashamed, like they just made their dad look bad. I couldn't see why they made Ares look bad, but from the look of Annabeth's face, she could tell it was the fact that they fought for leadership rights.

"Clarisse, don't give them any ideas," Annabeth warned, before sitting down on her table.

Piper felt sorry for her. She had a lot of pressure going on, from being to camp leader, to finding Percy, and now to making peace. She felt like it was her duty to make her feel better. Piper sighed and sat down next to her siblings.

**-TSON-**

"Alright, that piece should go there! No, you have to place it just right!" Leo ordered his siblings, before making another part of the Argo II.

Piper carefully made her way to Leo. Bunker 9 had a lot of kids in it, mostly the Hephaestus and Athena kids. She was careful not to kick away any kind of tools or metal, and not to step on blueprints.

"Leo!" she called out. Her leg was tangled in some kind of metal wire. "Some help, please?"

Leo looked up from his work and grinned. "Sure thing, beauty queen!" Leo made sure the wires didn't cut her skin, and slowly untangled the wires. It took a while, but after some waiting, Piper's foot was set free. "So, what can Leo Valdez do for you?"

Piper rolled her eyes at Leo's businessman impression. "How long 'till the ship's done, fireboy?"

Leo stroked his chin. "Well, one thing for sure, we won't be able to finish this all in three weeks," he said grimly, "but if we're lucky, another five weeks should be enough. The process's getting slower now, everyone's way too tired. The only way to finish it on time is to not have any breaks, and that would be bad."

Piper nodded. She knew that building the ship was a hard job. The Hephaestus cabins gave up their regular activities just to build this ship so they can go find Percy. But then, they started to have problems, like finding reasons to make the ship fly, or finding magic enchantments to make it fly. After that, the some of Annabeth's siblings offered to help, but that was still not enough. The Hecate cabin helped things out with magic, but the process wasn't going any faster. Leo said it was like the curse had come back again.

"It's no use," Leo said, sitting down on a rock. "No matter how much help we get, we'll never finish this is three weeks. Even Annabeth pointed that out."

Piper would love to help, but she didn't know the first thing when it came to building ships or flying machines. In fact, she didn't know anything about fixing or building machines, much less read a blueprint.

"Don't worry, you'll get it man," a voice said. Piper turned, and saw Jason, standing behind her. He made his way next to Piper. "If anyone knows how to build this awesome machine, it's you."

Leo looked pleased. "Thanks man, but, you see," Leo began, turning to look at the giant flying object, "we haven't gone very far."

Jason patted him on the back, giving words of encouragement. Piper knew Jason too had no knowledge on the subject whatsoever, but he was trying his best to bring their best friend's hopes up.

"I'll see you guys around," Piper said, before exiting the cave-like room. Piper thought she could've brought Annabeth good news on the ship, like the process was speeding up or something, but she only received bad news. Piper couldn't bear to see her so upset. She knew the feeling of losing a boyfriend. At least, when she thought Jason _was _her boyfriend. She dismissed her thought, and made her way to the cabins to find Annabeth.

**-TSON-**

Piper told Annabeth the bad news in the best way she can. She left out the fact that it might take them another five weeks. That would only bring her spirits way down. After telling her the news, Annabeth looked like she was going to break down and cry.

"If only I was camp leader when Percy was gone," Annabeth said angrily, kicking a rock, "then I would've disappeared, and not him."

"But if you were the one who disappeared, he would be the one worrying about you," Piper pointed out. "And besides, it wasn't your fault."

Annabeth was in a rage. "It was! I just wished she could've taken me instead!"

"You're only saying that because you're mad at Hera," Piper said, choosing her words carefully. "I bet he won't be any different from you right now, if you were the one taken."

Annabeth considered Piper's words. "You're right, I guess I'm being selfish," she sighed. They were in the arena, another one of Percy's favorite places. Annabeth grabbed a knife and threw it, and it landed on a Greek dummy's heart.

Piper tried to cheer her up by throwing knives with her, but her knife missed a Greek dummy by a mile. It almost hit Clarisse, who was trying to teach her younger siblings to use a sword. "Hey! Watch it McLean!"

Clarisse kicked the knife, making it slide across the floor to her feet. Piper picked it up, sighing. She was never going to get it right. "You need more swing," Annabeth told her. "And force. You should probably feel the direction of the wind as well."

Piper sighed. "I don't think I wanna hit a Clarisse anytime today," she muttered, causing Annabeth to smile.

"Yeah," Annabeth agreed, "stabbing a Clarisse in the heart is a very bad idea." She grabbed her knife out of the Greek dummy. "Let's go before we stab another Clarisse."


	5. V: Percy

V

Percy

Percy made his way to the sword arena. He sighed, walking sadly all the way there. Ever since he arrived, he felt as if he didn't belong, as if he was on enemy grounds. Annabeth, the only girl he remembered, had told him that, after his Determination Fight. Yep, the fight to prove he is worthy to enter the camp and be called a Roman demigod. Tough.

He made a couple of friends here. Reyna, Gwen, Hazel, Frank, his best friends. Then there's Bobby, a son of Mars, Dakota, a son of Mercury, and a couple of other kids. He didn't understand why he liked the Greek names of the gods more than the Roman names. He found those Roman names all wrong. Gwen warned him about using Greek names long ago, so he stuck with Roman names ever since. Not that he wanted to.

He grabbed his sword out of his pocket. Sure, it was a pen first. Everybody was confused why the metal wasn't Imperial Gold. Apparently, that's what _Roman_ weapons are made out of.

"Hey." Percy didn't need to turn around to see it was Reyna. She was his best friend.

"Hey," Percy replied, slashing a Roman dummy.

Reyna sighed, and took a charm off her charm bracelet. It immediately turned into a three-foot golden blade. Like Percy said, all Roman weapons are made out of Imperial Gold.

Percy watched his best friend slash dummies. He couldn't help looking into her eyes, watching the sadness and confusion gather up. "Hey, we'll find him soon," he said, hoping to cheer her up. Wrong move. Reyna immediately burst into tears.

"He's gone, Percy. Lost forever," she whimpered, tears flowing out of her eyes. Percy could tell she's been holding back all this time. "I don't understand why he would've just disappeared, just like that."

"I know how you feel," Percy whispered. He didn't know why, but he felt like he had disappeared into Camp Legion.

Reyna looked up, her eyes puffy from her small sobs. "What do you mean? You arrived at camp, safe and sound. You should be happy!"

Percy sighed. He knew she would have said that. Everybody would. Not that it was a bad thing. Reaching camp safely _and _passing the Determination Fight _was _good. Not every demigod would end up this way. He slashed another dummy, cutting his head off. Great. Now he must make a new one. Or at least sew the dummy's head back on. Percy stopped slashing as soon as he heard the conch horn. Free hour. "I need to go, clear my mind," he said, before leaving Reyna confused and slightly hurt.

**-TSON-**

He jogged towards the woods. He knew that beaches always calmed him down, but since Camp Legion didn't have one, he always visited the lake, deep in the woods. He plopped down on the dock, where several canoes were tied.

"Who am I, Annabeth? And who are you? Why is it that you're the only person I remember, and no one else? Can you give me some answers?" He sighed, knowing none will come.

He stared at the water, kicking his feet. He loved water; it's the only place where he could think. It felt weird, talking to himself, but whenever he did, he felt like Annabeth was there, listening to him, but not bothering to answer. Sure, it was annoying not to be answered, but he felt like this was a common thing done. He would ask pointless questions, and Annabeth would roll her eyes and stare at the sea, not bothering to reply.

His mind wondered off to the first dream he had. Annabeth was there, tending and caring him. Sure, she shot him several pointless questions, but still, she was there for him. It felt like he needed to always be there for her. Like they were a package, if she goes, then he goes as well. But right now, not having Annabeth with him, it felt weird, as if someone had unwrapped that package, and not caring to know that he and Annabeth were being torn apart.

Last night, he had another dream. He hasn't had another dream for ages, and now, he got another one. He was sure that it was something from his past. His mind wondered off to the scene he had dreamt.

_Percy was there, sitting in the middle of a pavilion. He was looking into the horizon, sitting on a table. Annabeth was walking towards him, carrying a blue misshapen cupcake._

"_Hey," she said, sliding into the seat next to him. "Happy birthday."_

_Percy stared blankly at her. "What?"_

"_It's August 18__th__," she said. "Your birthday, right?"_

_Percy just stared at her. He didn't realize it was his birthday. The prophecy – the first Great Prophecy – had come true, right on schedule._

"_Make a wish," Annabeth told him._

"_Did you bake it yourself?" Percy asked._

"_Tyson helped."_

"_That explains why it looks like a chocolate brick," Percy said. "With extra blue cement."_

_Annabeth laughed at Percy's description, while Percy silently made a wish. He blew out the candle. They cut the cake in half, eating it with their fingers. Annabeth sat silently, watching the ocean. The crickets and monsters were making noises in the woods, but other than that, it was quiet and peaceful._

"_You saved the world," she said._

"_We saved the world."_

"_And Rachel is the new Oracle, which means she won't be dating anybody."_

"_You don't sound disappointed," Percy noticed._

_Annabeth shrugged. "I don't care."_

"_Uh-huh."_

_She raised an eyebrow. "You got something to say to me, Seaweed Brain?"_

"_You'd probably kick my butt."_

"_I _know_ I'd kick your butt."_

_Percy brushed the cakes off his hands. "When I was at the River Styx, turning invulnerable… Nico said I had to concentrate on one thing that kept me anchored to the world, that made me want to stay mortal."_

_Annabeth kept her eyes on the horizon. "Yeah?"_

"_Then up on Olympus," Percy said, "When they wanted to make me a god and stuff, I kept thinking–"_

"_Oh, you _so_ wanted to."_

"_Well, maybe a little. But I didn't, because I thought – I didn't want things to stay the same for eternity, because things could always get better. And I was thinking…" His throat felt really dry._

"_Anyone in particular?" Annabeth asked, her voice soft. Percy looked at her and saw that she was trying her best not to smile._

"_You're laughing at me," he complained._

"_I am not!"_

"_You are _so_ not making this easy."_

_Then she laughed for real, and put her arms around Percy's neck. "I am never, _ever, _going to make things easy for you, Seaweed Brain. Get used to it." And at that moment, their lips locked. They didn't care about anything else. They were too entranced by the kiss._

Percy would've wanted to see what would happen afterwards, but unfortunately, he just _had _to wake up. It was by far the longest dream he has ever had about his past. Well, he only had two dreams about his past, and this was definitely longer than the other. He wanted to tell Reyna about the dream for two reasons; one, she was his best friend and two; her mom was Aphro– Venus, goddess of love and beauty.

"Where are _you,_ Annabeth?" Percy asked aloud. He waited for an answer. Once in a while, Annabeth's voice popped up in his head. He didn't know how, but it felt pretty good to know she was on his side, and to know she was there for him. Unfortunately, Annabeth decided to ignore that question, _this _time.

Percy sighed. Annabeth wasn't going to reply him. He thought for a second. Maybe if he asked a different question, she would reply. He rummaged his useless brain for a question, but none came. "Well, tell me if you want to. And," he took a deep breath. He hoped she was listening, because he whispered, "I love you too, Wise Girl."

He ran out of the woods, and into the familiar camp surroundings of demigods, fauns, and an angry Lupa.

**-TSON-**

"Where have you been? The conch horn blew ages ago!" Hazel said. Percy knew she was translating Lupa for him, since he had no clue on what Lupa was saying. But he understood her growl was not friendly.

"Sorry, I didn't hear it from the lake," he said, pointing at the lake far away. Lupa growled again.

"Lupa was worried sick! And what were you doing that far?" Hazel asked, though Percy could see a hint of amusement in her eyes. He didn't have a clue on why she was like this, so he pushed the thought away.

"Thinking," he said.

Lupa didn't growl, bark, or snarled. She just twitched her nose and wagged her tail a bit. Hazel looked at him. "She would like to have a word with you at the wolf house," she translated then ran to continue her activities, out of sight.

**-TSON-**

Percy followed Lupa to the wolf house. He had never been there, due to the fact that he woke up in an infirmary. "Where are you taking me?"

Lupa didn't say anything, in wolf for this matter. Percy decided it was best to stay quiet. He didn't quite get how he was going to 'have a word' with Lupa, when he could hardly understand what she was saying.

Lupa stopped at an old house. It looked like it used to be a house, but sadly burnt down long ago. She stopped at a fountain like place, with pillars all over the place. Lupa sat down in front of the fountain then barked.

Pansy, the faun who Percy hasn't seen since ages, appeared out of nowhere, and made his way next to Lupa. "You called, Lupa?"

Lupa talked with Pansy a bit. Percy didn't understand what they were talking about, but Percy could tell Pansy was shocked at the news.

"Well, then Percy Jackson," Pansy said. He seemed a lot kinder since the day they first met. "I am Pansy, a faun in service of Lupa. Unlike the Greeks, us fauns don't go around finding demigods to round them to camp. Demigods stumble upon this place _coincidentally. _This is the starting point of every demigod journey. And, I am the one who sets the tests for the demigods, to see if they are worthy to take on the Determination Fight."

Percy nodded, lost for words. "So, uh, do I have to take the tests?"

Pansy shook his head. "You already passed the Determination Fight, so that won't be needed. But Lupa called you here so the three of us could talk," he began. "Lupa said you went down to the lake to think. What were you thinking of?"

Percy shifted his feet uncomfortably. "A girl," he began, "that I know. When I first arrived at camp and said I didn't have any memories of my past, I was, uh, sort of lying. I did have a bit of a memory."

"And what was this memory?" Pansy's eyes were filled with amusement; his eyebrow was raised in curiosity.

"I remembered her name," he said. Pansy waited until he told her the name. "Annabeth."

"And who was she in your past?"

"My best friend." Percy decided not to tell about the 'girlfriend' part.

Pansy raised his eyebrow. "Anything else?"

Lupa growled, and Percy knew he had to tell. "My girlfriend. She's a demigod, as far as I can tell," Percy said. Then he remembered her stormy gray eyes. The Minerva cabin was filled with kids with stormy gray eyes. "She's a daughter of Minerva."

Lupa nodded to Pansy. "Any dreams?" Pansy asked.

Percy sighed and told him about his first dream, the dream of Annabeth caring for him while he was badly wounded. He included the fact that she fed him something like pudding. He noticed Lupa's eyes widened while Pansy thought of it as 'just pudding'. He continued telling them his dream, the dream of him and Annabeth in an empty pavilion. Lupa's eyes widened once more, as if she recognized the place.

Pansy nodded. "Well, Lupa, any comments?"

Lupa started talking in wolf, while Pansy listened carefully. Percy stood there, fiddling with his hands and shifting his feet. Finally, Pansy turned to him. "Call all the praetors, and we shall have a meeting."

Percy's face was filled with confusion. Pansy sighed. "I'm guessing the kids told you the informal word. Call the counselors of each cabin." Percy nodded, understanding and ran back in the direction of the camp.


	6. VI: Hazel

VI

Hazel

Hazel would never admit it, but she had a crush on Percy. The way his sea-green eyes seem to gleam and seem to shine – it was amazing. His jet-black hair and tanned skin only topped it off. And the fact that he got even more muscular ever since he arrived at camp? Sweet. She sighed at thought. He was also able to control water. Water. She didn't know anyone who can control something. The only person she know who had amazing and special abilities was Jason, and he was already taken.

"Haze, wait up!" Hazel turned around to see her best friend, Gwen, running towards her. She was softer around her, when they were together alone. Gwen and Hazel had arrived at the wolf house together, and they had been best friends ever since. Hazel looked her tattoo. Five lines, five years at camp. They had been here since they were ten. The lines were burnt into their skin by magic, so it didn't really hurt.

"What up, G?" Hazel asked, smiling. She couldn't help smiling ever since she had a crush on Percy.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "You know, you've changed," she stated.

Hazel couldn't help but giggle. Wait, since when did she giggle? "Sorry, happy mood."

"Percy?" Gwen guessed, her eyes dancing with mischief.

Hazel blushed, but nodded. "Yeah, saw him a couple minutes ago. Lupa said she wanted to talk with him. Not sure how, though."

"Probably it's not going so well right now," Gwen grinned, imagining the scene. Hazel tried to imagine as well. Lupa, growling '_We need to talk.' _And Percy saying, "What?" This would've gone over and over and over again. The two girls suddenly burst into helpless laughter.

"Hilarious," Hazel said. Gwen nodded in agreement. "Pure gold," she added. They started laughing again.

Frank suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "The big, tough Gwen turning soft? Gods, help us! The world is crumbling apart!" He said sarcastically. Frank had been here a couple years longer. He had been here since he was two, but he was a year older than them. He was sixteen and they were fifteen.

Gwen scowled at him, and gave him a hard punch. "How's that for a softie?"

Frank pretended to look hurt, but Hazel figured that it _did_ hurt. "So now she's tough again. My prayers were answered!"

Gwen gave him a murderous look, and Frank smirked. "Just messing with you, _Gwendolyn_."

"That's it!" Gwen raced after Frank, chasing him all around camp. Hazel sighed and shook her head. Those two will never grow up.

**-TSON-**

Hazel made her way to the archery, humming a happy tune. She grabbed a bow and a couple of arrows, and started shooting them from different angles and distance. One shot right pass a person's face, and landed a bull's eye. Of course, they had to be bull's eye. Otherwise, she wasn't please.

She was going to shoot another arrow when she saw Gwen and Frank pass by. She laughed at the sight, and came up with a plan to break them apart. She grabbed a Fart Arrow, and shot it in their direction. Then carefully, she aimed another arrow at the Fart Arrow, which was still shooting towards Frank and Gwen. She released her arrow, and the arrow split the Fart Arrow in two, causing the stench to be released.

Gwen and Frank started to groan in disgust. Hazel laughed, making her way down from the tall rock she was on. Sometimes, she swore that those two are in love. But before she could reach them, the two started running again, and Hazel was left to do nothing but pick her arrow up. The stench had cleared, which was good.

"Hey." Hazel knew that voice. It was the voice she loved. "Percy," she greeted, grinning from ear to ear.

"That's me," Percy said proudly, causing Hazel to laugh. "Lupa told me to call all the praetors for a meeting."

Hazel smiled. "So you learned the real term, huh? That's good. I was wondering when you'd catch up."

Percy grinned. "I have my ways. Can you help me gather the praetors for the meeting? Lupa wants them at the wolf house."

"The wolf house? Why not the Command Center?"

Percy shrugged. "Better, hurry. Don't want to keep Lupa waiting."

Hazel nodded and hurried off to find the other praetors.

**-TSON-**

'_Heroes, heroes!' _Lupa growled, trying to calm the environment. Everyone was talking at once, but Hazel kept her eyes on Percy.

Finally, Lupa howled, and everyone calmed down. '_We have important matters to discuss,' _Lupa began. '_Percy has regained some memories about his best friend, a girl named Annabeth.' _

Hazel was just happy that this Annabeth girl was his best friend. Just a friend, right? Percy looked confused. "What are you guys talking about?"

Reyna quickly translated for him, and he nodded. Lupa turned her attention toward us. '_Now, we shall have a quest to find this Annabeth girl. Something tells me the first clue is very near. Now, who shall accompany him on the quest?"_

Hazel's hand immediately shot up, along with Gwen's, Reyna's and Frank's. Percy looked confused. "Why are you raising you hands?"

Reyna, who was sitting beside him, quickly translated, and Percy nodded. "So I have to choose two, right?"

Everyone looked surprised. "How'd you know?" Frank asked.

Percy shrugged. Probably tired of saying, "I don't know" over and over again. Percy looked at the four of us. Finally, he decided. "Frank and…" he began, "Hazel."

Hazel couldn't imagine he had chosen him. Maybe, just maybe, he had feelings for her too. He could've turned her down and chose Reyna, his best friend at camp, but he chose her instead. This was the greatest news of all, at least, for today, as Hazel put it.

Reyna was about to protest, but Percy quickly added, "It feels right." And Reyna didn't protest.

'_Good, you shall leave first thing tomorrow morning,' _Lupa told us, and everyone left the wolf house. Hazel turned around and watched as Lupa walked over to the fountain, muttering something about 'saving grace'.

**-TSON-**

Hazel decided to go to the lake for a while, just to breath in the smell of fresh water. She heard the voice she loved, talking. "Can't you give me a clue?"

Hazel knew it wasn't good to be eavesdropping, but she did anyways. She saw Percy staring at his reflection in the water, talking to himself. Yes, her crush was talking to himself. Hopefully, he wasn't a psycho.

Percy's eyebrows scrunched together. He closed his eyes, like he was waiting for someone to reply. He sighed. "Now would be a good time, Annabeth," he said.

Hazel blinked. Was he talking to Annabeth? But she wasn't even around! "Wise Girl, you there?" He even had a nickname for her. Did he have a nickname for _her_?

He sighed, closing his eyes. After a while, his eyes flung open. "Thanks for telling me that," he said. Then he whispered something, something too faint for her to hear. He head towards her direction, so Hazel did the most natural thing to do. She ran.

**-TSON-**

"Haze?" Gwen's voice ran throughout the Apollo cabin. Hazel was sitting in the third legion room, on her own bunk. "Hazel, you there?" she demanded.

Hazel sighed and shouted, "Right here, G!"

Gwen's face appeared in the doorway. She was smiling wildly, like something awesome had happened. "So, where'd you go?"

"What do you mean?"

"I saw you running from the direction Percy was walking out."

"Oh."

"Are you not telling me something, Sunshine?"

Hazel glared at her. "Don't call me that."

Gwen grinned. "Are you two together or what?"

"Since when were you interested in love?"

Gwen shrugged. "Spill. It."

Hazel sighed, and told her everything she had seen. Gwen listened attentively. "Oh," was all she said.

"Yeah," Hazel replied, understanding what her "oh" meant. "Annabeth's probably his girlfriend." She felt like bursting into tears. Her first crush, and she was already torn apart.

Gwen sighed. "Look, I may not be Venus or any child of Venus, but I know what a best friend of Hazel would say." Hazel looked at her, to see her grinning. "See? That already got you interested!"

Hazel groaned and started to laugh along with Gwen. "Yeah," she said, smiling. Gwen slapped her in the face.

"OW! What was that for?" Hazel groaned, looking in the mirror to see her left cheek completely red. "GWEN!"

"I thought you need a good slap," Gwen shrugged, before the two of them burst out laughing. "Anyways, there's probably plenty of boys out there."

"Yeah, plenty."

Gwen nodded. "So, focus on the positive side. Isn't that what Hazel used to do? She's the glue, remember?"

Hazel laughed. That was what Apollo had told her once. All the Apollo kids like to stay on the positive side, becoming Mr. Sunshine or Ms. Sunshine. Hazel remembered the haiku her dad wrote, and started reciting it, "_Positive people…"_

Gwen laughed before adding, "_Keeps the world together, yeah."_

And then Hazel joined in, reciting the last line together, "_Apollo so ROCKS!"_

They started laughing at Apollo's haiku. "Gods, that was an awesome haiku," Gwen said in the middle of her laugh.

"Gods, more like the worst one ever," a new voice said. The two looked at the doorway to see Reyna, Frank and Percy. Frank and Reyna started laughing, but Percy didn't quite get it. "What do you mean?"

Reyna explained the time when Apollo visited camp. He was supposed to give a speech or something, and he started rambling on and on how his kids were just as awesome as he was. And then he told his kids that they were 'Sunshines' and came up with that haiku.

Percy started laughing. Then his eyes widened. "I remember another one of Apollo's poems," he grinned. "Not as funny as that one, though."

"What was it?" Frank asked.

"_Green grass breaks through snow_

_Artemis pleads for my help_

_I am so awesome"_

Gwen rolled her eyes. "He just had to put that last line, didn't he?"

Hazel started laughing. "You know dad," she added. She watched Gwen switched personality from G to Gwendolyn, the daughter of Mars. Suddenly, Gwen frowned. "Artemis? Who's that?'

"Diana, except, in Greek," Percy explained. Gwen frowned. "Why would he use his sister's Greek name?"

Reyna shrugged. "Beats me."

Just then, the conch horn sounded. "Dinner!" Frank yelled. Gwen rolled her eyes. "Is there anything else you think of?"

Frank grinned. "Sure, stealing stuff. Pranking people. What's new?"

Hazel laughed at the sight. She was happy to always have her friends by her side. _Stay positive, _her dad had told her. _No matter how things get rough, there's always a good side._ Hazel smiled. She'd need to give a special offering to her dad to thank him.


	7. VII: Annabeth

VII

Annabeth

Piper had tried to cheer her up, and that was fine by her. She was a sweet girl, caring dearly for her friends. She was starting to act like her younger sister, and she was like her older sister. Piper makes her laugh, even when she doesn't intend to.

Annabeth had dinner that night, making a sacrifice to her mom and Hera, asking them to keep her Seaweed Brain safe. As usual, she only ate the vegetables, and burnt whatever meat was prepared. She drank water, and quickly went to brush her teeth and sleep.

The Aphrodite girls kept telling her that she is way slimmer now, having the body of a model's. Of course, that wasn't her goal. She just didn't feel like eating, not when her Seaweed Brain was missing. It felt like part of her had slipped away, because it actually did.

Annabeth sighed as she sat down on her bed. She had changed in to pajamas. She opened the drawer of her bedside table and fished out a picture; her and Percy holding hands while being carried and thrown into the lake. She smiled, remembering their first underwater kiss.

She sighed, and tried to get some sleep, not that it would help, anyways. She was hoping that she would be able to see him in her dreams. The thing is, sometimes, Hera would show her Percy through her dreams, and she could talk to him, giving him messages. One time, she had taken a nap, and she dreamt Percy fighting a kid that looked like Ares' son. After the fight, he declared himself a 'son of Neptune'. At that moment, Annabeth accidentally blurted, "They are the enemy. They are the enemy." And Percy somehow heard her.

Her eyes shut close, and her mind went vivid. Annabeth knew what this meant. A dream. She hoped that it was about Percy, so she could finally talk to him again.

In the dream, Percy was sitting at a lake, looking more confused than ever. He stared at the water, looking at his reflection. "Who am I, Annabeth? Who are you? Why is it that you're the only person I remember, and no one else? Can you give me some answers?" he asked. Annabeth gasped. She didn't know she was the only person he remembered. But did her remember her as his girlfriend? If so, then that meant he won't have another girlfriend.

He sighed, as if he knew that she wouldn't answer. Annabeth knew she could read his mind. She learned that during the first dream. Whatever she says seemed to be an illusion in his mind, but he took whatever she said seriously.

Percy started kicking the water. She knew that he loved water. His love for water grew into her too, and she always sat down on the beach or lake to think. Watching him do this reminded her of herself. _Am I a psycho? _Percy asked himself in his mind. _But talking to myself aloud… it feels like I'm talking to Annabeth. _Annabeth smiled. It was good to know that her boyfriend missed her, after everything she had been through.

Suddenly the dream changed. Annabeth groaned. _Please don't let the dream be over, _she silently wished. She now saw Percy in the dining pavilion, looking into the horizon. She knew this scene; it was after the war had ended.

Annabeth saw another Percy, her Percy she saw earlier at the lake, standing in trees, watching the commotion. _So he had this dream, _she thought, now understanding. She didn't leave Percy. She simply entered his mind.

_Percy was there, sitting in the middle of a pavilion. He was looking into the horizon, sitting on a table. Annabeth was walking towards him, carrying a blue misshapen cupcake._

"_Hey," she said, sliding into the seat next to him. "Happy birthday."_

_Percy stared blankly at her. "What?"_

"_It's August 18__th__," she said. "Your birthday, right?"_

_Percy just stared at her. He didn't realize it was his birthday. The prophecy – the first Great Prophecy – had come true, right on schedule._

"_Make a wish," Annabeth told him._

"_Did you bake it yourself?" Percy asked._

"_Tyson helped."_

"_That explains why it looks like a chocolate brick," Percy said. "With extra blue cement."_

_Annabeth laughed at Percy's description, while Percy silently made a wish. He blew out the candle. They cut the cake in half, eating it with their fingers. Annabeth sat silently, watching the ocean. The crickets and monsters were making noises in the woods, but other than that, it was quiet and peaceful._

"_You saved the world," she said._

"_We saved the world."_

"_And Rachel is the new Oracle, which means she won't be dating anybody."_

"_You don't sound disappointed," Percy noticed._

_Annabeth shrugged. "I don't care."_

"_Uh-huh."_

_She raised an eyebrow. "You got something to say to me, Seaweed Brain?"_

"_You'd probably kick my butt."_

"_I _know_ I'd kick your butt."_

_Percy brushed the cakes off his hands. "When I was at the River Styx, turning invulnerable… Nico said I had to concentrate on one thing that kept me anchored to the world, that made me want to stay mortal."_

_Annabeth kept her eyes on the horizon. "Yeah?"_

"_Then up on Olympus," Percy said, "When they wanted to make me a god and stuff, I kept thinking–"_

"_Oh, you _so_ wanted to."_

"_Well, maybe a little. But I didn't, because I thought – I didn't want things to stay the same for eternity, because things could always get better. And I was thinking…" His throat felt really dry._

"_Anyone in particular?" Annabeth asked, her voice soft. Percy looked at her and saw that she was trying her best not to smile._

"_You're laughing at me," he complained._

"_I am not!"_

"_You are _so_ not making this easy."_

_Then she laughed for real, and put her arms around Percy's neck. "I am never, _ever, _going to make things easy for you, Seaweed Brain. Get used to it." And at that moment, their lips locked. They didn't care about anything else. They were too entranced by the kiss._

Her dream changed again. She was now out of his mind, looking at Percy at the lake again. He was smiling, just as she was. She wanted to call his name out badly, but she knew better than to do so.

"Where are _you, _Annabeth?" he called out. Annabeth almost screamed, "Camp Half-Blood!" but she decided not to. It was best if he was the one who figured things out, and not just following what she said.

Percy sighed after no reply came. "Well, tell me if you want. And," he took a deep breath, "I love you too, Wise Girl."

**-TSON-**

Annabeth woke up, screaming with delight. She didn't care if she woke her siblings up. At least she knew Percy recognized her. His voice rang in her mind, saying those sweet words over and over again. Annabeth squealed with joy as she changed, brushed her hair and teeth, and put on her sneakers. Her siblings were staring blankly at her, but she didn't care. She needed to tell Piper the good news, and fast.

"Piper!" Annabeth yelled. She told Malcolm to make sure everyone would get to breakfast on time. Malcolm nodded, noticing how happy his half-sister looked.

Piper turned around. "Annabeth! You seem happy today," Piper said, smirking. She had been walking with her siblings to breakfast, but when she heard Annabeth call her name, she told Lacy to be in charge. She seemed awfully happy at the news.

"Guess what?" Annabeth said.

Piper smiled. Percy had to be the answer. "Meet me at the lake after breakfast. I need to make sure my siblings aren't fighting."

Annabeth nodded happily, before running towards Malcolm and telling him that she would take it from there. She couldn't wait 'till after breakfast.

**-TSON-**

"So, what happened?" Piper asked, as soon as they reached the lake. The lake reminded her of the dream, the way Percy was sitting by the lake, talking to her. It was like one of those times when he would've asked her pointless questions, and she wouldn't be bothering to answer. The only difference was, she _did_ want to answer, but just couldn't.

After telling Piper the whole story, they squealed. Piper's face suddenly fell. "What?" Annabeth asked, looking worried.

"I'm starting to act like my siblings!" Piper complained, causing Annabeth to laugh. "Yeah, I guess."

"Anyways, I'm really glad he remembers you. It would be awful if he didn't," Piper said, trying to choose the right words.

Annabeth nodded, but she was still smiling. "I can't wait to see him again. Maybe next time, I won't have to make the first move."

Piper laughed, but her face turned sad. Annabeth realized why her mood changed. "Oh Piper, I'm sure there won't be another girl," Annabeth said, hoping it would cheer her up.

"What if there is?" Piper asked. Annabeth recognized this feeling. She was having the same problem Annabeth had; she was afraid to lose Jason to someone else. Unlike Annabeth, she couldn't get a dream of Jason saying, "I love you, Piper" out of nowhere.

"I had the same problem, but I try to be strong," Annabeth offered. Piper gave her a sarcastic look. "Strong? You hardly ate or sleep!"

Annabeth laughed. "Yeah, but did I break down?"

Piper rolled her eyes. "Yes." State the obvious. Annabeth laughed again. "I can't promise you that he would be your boyfriend, but I can promise you that he _does_ like you."

Piper smiled. "Yeah, I kinda figured that out. Way ahead of you Annabeth." And they both laughed again.

**-TSON-**

Annabeth walked along beach, clips of her and Percy racing through her mind. Suddenly, the clips stopped short, and Annabeth blanked out.

She saw Percy again, sitting by the same lake. He looked in the water, having that same old confused face. "Annabeth, you there?" he said, hoping he would get a reply. Annabeth smiled. _Maybe if you start talking._

"Well, anyways, Lupa, a wolf–" Percy began. Before Annabeth could stop herself, she blurted, "I know who Lupa is, Seaweed Brain." _Curse my ADHD._

Percy started grinning. "I miss that voice. Anyways, I sorta told Lupa all about you."

"You what?" Annabeth demanded. She almost laughed at Percy's face. Terror, she recognized. She didn't know she had that effect on him.

"Sorry, but I was forced to!" he complained. When no reply came, he continued, "Anyways, after telling her all about you, a meeting was called out. About a quest, to be exact. And the quest was all about finding you."

"And?" Annabeth asked. She was confused at the direction this was going.

"Wow, and I thought you were the Wise Girl," Percy teased out loud.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, even though she knew he couldn't see her. "You're probably rolling your eyes right now," Percy said, smiling. Annabeth smiled.

"Anyways, to make things easier, can't you tell me where you are? So I can get my butt down there?" Percy asked, kicking the water.

"Yeah, sure. I'm in your dreams," Annabeth said.

"Ha-ha, very funny. But seriously where are you? I've been asking myself that question for five months now. I can't believe I'm searching for you. Aren't you the one that's supposed to find me?"

"Believe me, Seaweed Brain, I am."

"Then why haven't you found me?"

"'Cause I don't know where you are."

"Then you tell me where you are."

"No way."

Percy sighed. Annabeth watched as a figure appeared in the woods. She somehow saw Percy and stayed hidden. She didn't want to eavesdrop, as far as she could tell, but she did. She was pretty. Dark hair, fair skin, and pretty brown eyes. But the way she was staring at her Percy… she didn't like _that_.

"Can't you give me a clue?" Percy said. Annabeth was too busy looking at the girl, she didn't reply that question. '_Was it really that much of a pointless question?' _She heard Percy's mind say. She giggled.

"Wise Girl, you there?" Annabeth watched as the girl's face filled with jealousy. She felt a little sorry for the girl. This must be the way Piper felt at that moment. To know her crush had a girlfriend. Not that he really did. Jason, at least.

"Yeah, Seaweed Brain, I'm here," Annabeth replied.

She watched Percy close his eyes. She sighed. "You want me to tell you, huh? Well, I suppose I can give you a lead. My dad, he lives somewhere in San Francisco. That's where you are, right? Anyways, just look up Frederick Chase in the Yellow Pages, and you'll find the address. Got that Seaweed Brain?"

Percy's eyes flung open. "Thanks for telling me that," he said. "I love you Wise Girl," he whispered. Annabeth smiled. "I love you too, Seaweed Brain."

**-TSON-**

When Annabeth woke up, she was in the infirmary, with five pair of eyes looking down at her. "Where – where am I?"

"Infirmary," Rachel said. _When did she get here?_ "I was walking on the beach when I saw you lying unconscious on the sand. So, I brought you up here."

"Thanks," Annabeth muttered. Her head felt dizzy, so she held her head. She looked at the other figures. Piper, Leo, Jason and Chiron were there. She smiled. It was sweet to know there were people who cared for her.

Chiron noticed Rachel's and Piper's looks, so he said, "Boys, why not we leave the girls here for a minute, to talk to Annabeth." Leo wanted to protest, but Jason dragged him outside.

Once the boys and Chiron was gone, Annabeth turned to the girls. "I met him again." Annabeth told them all about the conversation, minus the part when she saw the girl. When they asked why she didn't reply when he asked for a clue, she told them she was considering giving him a clue. Luckily, they bought that.

After telling them about the conversation, they all squealed. Piper was the first to stop. "I think you should tell Chiron about this, minus the fact that he told you that he loved you," Piper told her. Rachel rushed to the door to call Chiron and the boys in.

"So, you guys done?" Leo asked. Piper snorted. "No, we just wanted Rachel to open the door so we can have some fresh air."

"Oh, if that's the case then–"

Piper laughed. "No, Fireboy, I was just kidding! Sheesh, lighten up."

Leo mumbled something about 'I'll lighten up' and 'girls'. Chiron coughed, getting everyone's attention.

"Annabeth, Rachel told me you have some news," Chiron began.

Annabeth nodded. "Yes. It's about Percy." Chiron and the boys listened attentively. "He's coming home."


	8. VIII: Leo

VIII

Leo

Leo didn't know what to say when he heard the news. All he could think of was building the ship. The time pressure had given the Hephaestus cabin a lot of stress, and the news about the ship not being needed to find Percy... that was just sad.

"Wait, so you mean we won't be needing the Argo II?" Leo asked.

"We still need it to send the seven to Greece, that's for sure. The ship needs to be close to finish when Percy arrives, at the very least," Chiron replied, stroking his beard.

Leo was stunned. If this Percy guy gets to camp in less than a week... that would put a lot of pressure on his bunkmates. "Now, hold on a minute. My cabin has been putting a lot of effort into that ship, and we're hardly sleeping now! If this Percy guy gets here, let's say, in a week, that'll put a lot of pressure on our hands! And we've received enough pressure!" Leo complained.

"We've got no choice, Leo. When Percy arrives, we have to set sail," Chiron said, stroking his beard once more.

Leo wanted to yell at the old centaur right there and then. If he didn't care about the Hephaestus cabin, then he might as well not care about the whole camp. Nyssa, his half-sister, was already out of juice, and taking a longer break than usual. Most of his siblings were. Sure, they loved the job and everything, but there was this 'time-pressure thing'. He didn't know if they could handle it. He knew _he_ couldn't.

"But there's no telling when he'll arrive," Piper added, "so he might as well arrive in two weeks or something. Depends on how good of a clue Annabeth gave."

"But that was a good clue. Once her dad tells him where the camp is, then it'll be a piece of cake by then!" Leo added.

Annabeth sighed from her bed. Leo could tell that she didn't like this argument. "Guys, I can get the whole Athena cabin to help. I'm sure it'll work out."

"Like that'll work," Leo mumbled. Not caring what the others might say to that, Leo stormed out of the infirmary.

**-TSON-**

Leo told his bunkmates the bad news the best he can. A lot of groans came out, and Leo didn't like that. _Think positive_, he told himself. What was positive about this? They had even more pressure, they had less time to do the thing they loved and they still have to finish half of the boat in probably less than a week. There was no positive side, as far as he could see.

"Well, at least we get to do what we love nonstop," Jake Mason, former counselor of the Hephaestus cabin, offered. "That's a good thing, right?"

Leo watched as his bunkmates nodded in agreement. This is where he should step in. "So let's stay on the positive side! If we think about it that way, I'm sure we'll get this done in no time!"

A cheer erupted throughout Bunker 9. Leo smiled proudly. He just gave everyone a pep talk. Well, Jake helped, of course, but he was the one that actually _made_ them cheer. At least in Leo's perspective, he did.

Jason suddenly came rushing behind him. "So you got any plans on how to finish building this thing? 'Cause we need to hurry."

Leo glanced at Jake, who was second in command for the project. He was sort of hoping Jake would come up with a plan, since he was sort of more leader-like. He didn't have a plan. He even needed Jake's help to drive everyone to the positive side! "No," Leo answered honestly.

"Oh," Jason simply replied. "I'm sure you'll come up with something, man."

Leo smiled. "Shifts," he said, his face lighting up. "We could take shifts on building the ships. Create groups."

Jason smiled back. "Sounds like a plan. I'm not sure how you're going to finish it in time that way though," Jason admitted, "but I'm sure you do."

Leo grinned. "Trust me. I got this."

Jason left him to help run errands or something, getting tools for the Hephaestus kids or giving them towels and cold drinks. Leo walked over to the notebook on his worktable. He picked it up. Taking shifts would work. Maybe Annabeth was right. If the whole Athena cabin could work on the project, they might finish the project on time. He grinned at his awesome idea, before rushing off to find Annabeth.

**-TSON-**

"Annabeth!" Leo yelled, stumbling down a hill. Annabeth looked at the direction of his yell, and saw him tumbling towards her. Leo bumped into her, knocking the two of them on the ground. "Ow."

Annabeth got up and brushed the dirt off her clothes. She sighed. "What is it Valdez?"

Leo quickly told her about the shifts. Athena was the goddess of wisdom and stuff, so he figured if Annabeth thought the plan might work, she'd be in it to win it. But if it won't, she might've changed the whole plan and gave him a better one, one that will actually work.

"Not bad," Annabeth commented, once Leo finished explaining.

Leo grinned. "Does that mean you'll help?"

Annabeth nodded reassuringly. "I'll tell them. You just focus on building that thing, and I'll work on the shifts. I can get the groups to be super effective."

"Maybe that's the problem," Leo said, now understanding. "There were just too many of us that us Hephaestus kids couldn't have our own space."

Annabeth studied him, like she was trying to come up with a better theory. She sighed in the end, showing defeat. "You're absolutely right. I'll get the rest of my brothers and sisters. Do you have your notebook with you?"

Leo took out at his notebook out of his magic tool belt. "Always do," he grinned mischievously.

Annabeth took it, and started writing down the groups who will work in shifts. "That way, everyone would be able to have some regular activities and do some work."

"And some might actually have a shift at night, so we could actually build this thing day _and_ night."

Annabeth nodded, approving of the idea. "Alright, I'll go and call the rest of my cabin, and you just announce these groups," Annabeth said, handing him his notebook back.

Leo nodded and ran back towards Bunker 9.

**-TSON-**

Everyone liked the idea. His bunkmates admitted they missed regular activities, so getting out of Bunker 9 for a while sounds like a plan. Leo told them that the plan would take action tomorrow, and that the special nighttime group could sleep for the rest of the day. They have to be awake if they're going to work during the hours of sleep.

Leo started mending a part of a ship. He was part of the group that had to work on the inside. The outside was done. They just needed to fix the deck and put Festus' head on the bow, add an anchor, and finish the deck.

The ship was huge, no doubt. There were three sails and three banks of oars. The inside was going to be sweet. Seven demigods meant seven cabins, but they put two extra ones just in case. To get to the area where the cabins were, you needed to go climb the stairs down from the deck.

There was an IM-ing room; a fountain that never stopped flowing water. Then there was a navigation room, a room with one single glass wall, so that they could see what was outside. This was supposed to be the room where the seven demigods could hang around.

Then there was the armory, filled with deadly weapons, bows, arrows, silver or celestial bronze, Fart Arrows, even Sonic Arrows. Greek armors hung on the wall. Jason was able to find a Roman armor somehow, and it hung on the wall as well.

Finally, there was the mini-forge, where Leo could build useful stuff out of metal there. Scraps of metal lay everywhere, and tools hung on every wall. This was Leo's favorite room.

Soon, once they finish the outside _and_ the inside (which still had a lot of work) they could finally set sail. He wanted to meet this Percy guy real soon. Everyone was talking about him nonstop, like he was some sort of great hero. Then again, maybe he was. _Is_, Leo reminded himself. _He's still alive._

Annabeth arrived a few minutes late with Piper. Leo was sure Piper wasn't like any Aphrodite girl, no doubt. She was pretty, sure, in a way, but she didn't like make-up or fancy clothes. "Well, if it isn't beauty queen!" Leo grinned.

"Fireboy," Piper simply replied. Leo didn't know why she was here. The Aphrodite kids ran away screaming from this place, as if this was a place where people die. But Piper didn't act that way. In fact, she liked the place, like it was the next coolest thing after Festus.

Jason walked up, and appeared next to Leo. "Hey," he greeted, not taking his eyes off Piper. "So you came to help?"

Obviously, Leo thought. "No dude," he said. "They're here to give us giant teddy bears and chocolate to congratulate us on working so hard." Leo rolled his eyes, and the four of them laughed.

Leo could tell Annabeth hadn't laugh in a long time. The girl was like a witch, causing everyone to feel sad when she passed by. Then when she smiled, everyone smiled as well, but as far as Leo could tell, her smiles seemed fake most of the time. It was like someone had used a voodoo doll to control her, and she had no choice but to do whoever had the doll.

"So, what can we do to help?" Piper asked. Leo knew she had zero knowledge on anything like this. "How about helping Jason with his job? The guy had been drenched from head to toe in liquid from the planet Mars."

Jason rolled his eyes. "The guy is right here, you know."

Piper rolled her eyes as well. "Seriously? Liquid from Mars?"

Leo shrugged. "He looks like he had been chased by an angry Ares kid for days now."

Leo caught Annabeth smiling. _Probably reminiscing_. Leo wondered what it would be like to have a girlfriend. He never had one, since all the girls he had a crush on were ones who were impossible to date. For example, Khione, the goddess of snow, who wanted to tear him to bits. Cool. And Thalia, Jason's older sister who cared nothing about him, wasn't allowed to date. An eternal maiden, Annabeth had said. Sweet.

Leo shook his head. He shouldn't be thinking about girls at a time like this. His eyes wondered outside, down the hall of Bunker 9 and out of the entrance. Out there, somewhere, Percy Jackson was on his way back, back to his old home.

* * *

><p><strong>So, what do you think? Anyways, thanks for those who had reviewed up until this point! So far I got 1,872 hits... not as much as my first fic (no duh) but it's quite a lot! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I wanted to try something new, something with Leo. Sorry if it was such a mess. But, oh well!<strong>


	9. IX: Percy

**Whoa! 2,528 hits! Thanks a lot you guys!**

**Anyways... Sorry! I just realized something happened to the document, and the ending of this chapter went _Poof!_ So I had to rewrite the ending. But, well here it is, good as new. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>IX<p>

Percy

Percy was glad he now had a lead. Annabeth's clue sounded way too useful. He planned the way he was going to find her. Find the Yellow Pages, look up a dude name Frederick Chase, and ask him where Annabeth is. Simple as that.

It was early morning, and everyone was saying their final goodbyes. Reyna looked jealous of Hazel, seeing that Percy had chosen her instead of _her_. Frank was completely understandable, he had acted like his older brother for a day, and the two were best friends. But Hazel wasn't that close.

Percy shook his head. No time to think about jealous girls right now. Besides, he already had Annabeth. He smiled at the name.

Once everyone was done, the three heroes set off. Leaving the wolf house seemed like a hard thing to do for Hazel and Frank. They had never left the camp, unless they had a quest (which was rare) or a war (rarer).

But to Percy, it seemed perfectly normal, as if he had left camp several times before. He left all that sword fighting and fights and battles behind, and stepped into the mortal world. He didn't know why, but he felt safer outside the camp than inside it.

"Well, we better find this Frederick Chase guy," Frank said, taking a deep breath. Percy had told them about Annabeth and his conversation, minus the part where he told her that he loved her. "So, how do we do that again?"

Hazel sighed. "She said we would find him in the Yellow Pages," she reminded. "So I guess that's where we have to look."

Frank thought for a while, like he remembered something. "The name Frederick Chase… it seems awfully familiar, don't you think?"

Hazel shrugged, but looked at Percy was help. "What?" Percy asked his companions.

They both sighed, clearly getting the idea that Percy had no idea who this Frederick Chase was. Their best lead was the Yellow Pages. "Do you think the camp has one?" Hazel asked.

Percy shook his head. "Not that I know of." Hazel sighed. Percy knew how she felt. If only camp had a copy of the Yellow Pages, he could've just found Annabeth in a snap.

Frank told them they should just keep moving. Hazel and Frank rarely went into the outside world, so they didn't really know where to get a copy of the Yellow Pages.

'_I can't believe I'm saying this, but _borrow _one, you Seaweed Brain!' _a voice said inside his mind.

_Annabeth? _He asked silently in his mind. _And I thought you weren't going to give me any more clues._

Percy could tell Annabeth was probably rolling her eyes right now. He chuckled at the thought, catching the attention of his two friends.

"What's so funny?" Frank asked, confused.

Percy shook his head, and motioned them to keep walking. Hazel somehow seemed suspicious. Once in a while she would look back at Percy, and when Percy looked at her with an eyebrow raised, she looked away, blushing. He seriously didn't understand girl.

'_That's good,' _Annabeth told him in his mind. Percy had a shocked expression. Luckily, no one saw.

_You can read my thoughts?_

'_Not always, only when I'm – look I'll tell you when you find me. Quickly find my dad. I could just tell you his address–'_

_Please do. _Percy rolled his eyes.

He heard Annabeth sigh in his head. _'But I can't. Use that head of yours and find me. I can't stay long; I think I'm waking up. I'll see you soon, Seaweed Brain.'_ And with that, Annabeth's voice disappeared.

"Use my head," Percy mumbled, chuckling to himself. Annabeth acted like he never did. But then again, probably he didn't. Percy ran so he could catch up with his friends.

"By the way, how does this 'chatting with Annabeth' thing work?" Frank asked, not taking his eyes off the path. They were making their way through the rest of the forest that hides their camp. Sure, they had magical borders and such, but a second layer of protection doesn't hurt.

Percy shrugged. "Beats me. Her voice just appears in my mind once in a while. I can talk to her through mind messages, or just talking out loud like a lunatic."

Frank laughed at the last comment. Hazel just followed them from behind. Percy noticed the sad look in her eyes, like she lost the one thing she loved. He made a mental note to ask her later on.

Suddenly, Frank's eyes widened. They were now out of the forest and on the road, when they saw a small store. "Well, what do you know? The Yellow Pages!"

Hazel and Percy followed Frank's gaze, to see a desk with the Yellow Pages on it. "Do you think we can borrow it for a while? Just to look something up?" Hazel asked, clearly annoyed.

"Aw, why not we just steal it?"

Hazel rolled her eyes like this was a typical thing for a child of Mercury. Of course, it was. "No, we can't."

Frank pouted playfully, but entered the store. He quickly told the clerk something, and he was skimming through the pages. Finally, he stopped, and started skimming for names. A moment later, he came out, with a huge grin upon his face. "Dr. Chase," he began, "lives in an apartment called Lakeside Manor. All I know is where the apartment is. I don't remember the exact address but–"

"Spill it!" Hazel demanded.

Frank rolled his eyes. "John Muir Dr."

Percy looked thoughtful. "We're by the Golden Gate Bridge. We're going to need a cab."

**-TSON-**

After a long ride, the Percy and his friends arrived at the apartment. It was nothing fancy, just a brown building with several balconies. There was a fountain on the lawn, but that was it. The apartment wasn't exactly an apartment; it probably only had three rooms. The place reminded Percy of Mr. Bean, this funny cartoon he watched as a kid. _Whoa. When did I remember that?_

He walked up to the front door, and checked the names of the people who lived here. Sure enough, there was a doorbell with the names he was looking for. Dr. Frederick Chase. He quickly pressed it, and the three demigods waited.

After a while, a woman showed up at the front door. Her eyebrow was raised when she saw Percy, and her eyes were twinkling with delight. "Percy! Annabeth had been worried sick about you!"

"Uh" was all he could manage. Luckily, Hazel was there, and she began explaining everything to the woman. The best they could guess was that she was Annabeth's mom, stepmom, at the very least.

"I see," she said once Hazel was done explaining. "No wonder you don't recognize me. Well, I suppose I should make an introduction. I'm Mrs. Chase, Annabeth's stepmom."

She invited them inside, and led them to the second story. She let them inside her house, offering them tea. The demigods gladly took it. A moment later, two kids appeared in the room. They looked like identical twins.

"Mom! Matthew stole my toy!" one wailed.

"Bobby, I did not steal your toy!" the other complained.

Percy, Hazel and Frank had to keep themselves from bursting into complete laughter. Not that the drama was funny and all that, but because the kid's name was _Bobby_, and it reminded them of the _Bobby_ at camp.

Mrs. Chase sighed, and told Bobby she'll get a new toy for him. Bobby left with a smug look on his face, while Matthew looked like he was ready to kill his own brother.

The woman turned her attention to the three demigods. "Well, Percy, how may I help you?"

"I need help," Percy stated. "I need to find Annabeth."

The woman smiled warmly. "Did you try contacting her?"

Percy shook his head. "How?"

"IM-ing."

"Instant Messaging?"

"_Iris _Messaging."

Hazel and Frank looked confused. "Iris Messaging?"

Mrs. Chase nodded. "Don't you have that at the Roman camp?" She thought for a while, but continued. "Anyways, I don't think you can get to Annabeth in a flash. Right now she's at camp, all the way in New York."

Percy's face fell. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought. His plan had crumbled into pieces, scattered all around the world. "Oh," he said, not wanting to show the hint of disappointment.

Frank gave Percy a comforting look, and by the look of Hazel's face, he could tell she was _trying _to comfort him as well. But he couldn't help noticing the excitement and relief in her eyes when she heard Annabeth was miles away from them.

"I suggest you should go on your way," Mrs. Chase offered. "Maybe you could find her and go back home."

Percy said thank you and went on to leave. "Tell your mother I said hi!" Mrs. Chase called out from behind him. "And tell Annabeth to call home soon!" Percy promised he would do both things, and left with his companions.

"Well this sucks," Frank put in, trying to lighten the mood. Percy sighed. When is he going to find Annabeth? If only she was here right now, looking at him… But he doubt she was. He had heard from her too many times now.

"The best we can do is just make our way there," Percy suggested, fixing his eyes on the horizon. "She mentioned camp as well."

Hazel's eyes suddenly sparked up, like she realized something. "What if there was another camp for demigods? What if Percy came from that camp?" Percy thought about those questions, and stared at the purple t-shirt he was wearing. What were the words written on his orange one?

"Come on, we better just get going," Frank said, looking into the horizon as well. "We better start moving."

**-TSON-**

Percy and his friends bought bus tickets. Apparently, the bus left at ten at night, so they had to travel in the dark. At least, they were safe and cozy in the bus. But Percy wasn't too sure of that. The bus was heading to Washington D.C. and as far as Percy could remember, he had a feeling he had been there.

He shook his head. He can't let his brain damage himself with all the thinking. Of course, Annabeth would've said that was true. He chuckled at the thought, thinking about Annabeth all over again.

"Dude, you're freaking me out," Frank said from beside him. Hazel wanted to sit along, so she was sitting all alone in front of them.

"What?"

"You and your constant chuckling. What's with that?"

Percy grinned. "Just deep in thought."

Frank raised an eyebrow, but shoved the thought away. "So, this Annabeth girl, she's your best friend, right?"

Percy stared outside, hoping Frank couldn't see him blushing. "Yeah. Known each other ever since we were twelve."

"What's she like?"

"Like any daughter of Athena, I guess." Percy shrugged. He saw the confusion on his buddy's face, so he added, "I mean, for a daughter of Minerva."

"Gray eyes?"

"Gray eyes."

"What's her hair color?"

"She's a blonde."

"What kind of weapon does she use?"

"Don't remember."

"Oh."

And that ended their conversation about Annabeth. Percy looked out the window once again. The picture of Annabeth came in his mind. He curly, blonde hair blown by the wind, her intense, gray eyes analyzing her opponent, searching for ways she could defeat him. That was the Annabeth he knew, at least. His mind drifted off, and soon, he was asleep.

Percy was in front of a mountain. Mt. Saint Helens, he recognized. He was there, and his face was serious. Annabeth was talking with him, and he realized he was telling Annabeth to go.

"Put your cap back on," Percy said. "Get out!"

"What?" Annabeth shrieked. "No! I'm not leaving you."

"I've got a plan. I'll distract them. You can use the metal spider – maybe it'll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what's going on."

"But you'll be killed!"

"I'll be fine. Besides, we've got no choice."

Annabeth glared at Percy, like she was going to punch him. What she did next caught Percy off guard. She kissed him.

"Be careful Seaweed Brain." She put on her hat and vanished.

The dream changed. There was a beach, and a small campfire lit up a small area. Five figures circled the fire, which was kept far away from the water. Percy squinted his eyes. There, in front of him, was no other than Annabeth Chase.

A boy sat left to her. He had short blond hair and terrifying, electric blue eyes. He had a small scar on his upper lip. He wore an orange t-shirt, but he knew he felt uncomfortable with it at first. But now, he had grown to like it.

Right of Annabeth was a girl with choppy brown hair and eyes that seemed to change color all the time. She looked amazing, even though it looked like she didn't want to draw any attention to herself. Percy looked closer. A knife hung on her belt.

Right on her was another girl. She was a redhead, and her hair was all frizzed up. She had sparkling green eyes that made people think of her as a girl with a cocky personality. She didn't wear an orange t-shirt like the rest of them. Instead, she wore a green shirt with lots of splats painted onto it. Her jeans were worn out, and she wore brown winter boots. Percy didn't understand why someone would wear those in the middle of summer.

And last, the boy sitting between Electric Eyes and Redhead had curly brown hair and pointy ears. He had a sly grin creeping up his face, like he always wanted to joke around. You could tell this guy shouldn't be trusted with sharp objects.

Percy waited for them to do something, but all they did was sat. Electric Eyes looked like he missed something, like he forgot his past. His eyes were filled with sadness, but they were fixed on Choppy-hair.

Choppy-hair and Latino Elf were sharing jokes, and Redhead and Electric Eyes would laugh once in a while.

Then Percy noticed something. The only person who moved was Annabeth. Her friends sat still, like they didn't matter to him at the moment. The only person's actions that matter were Annabeth's.

Annabeth stood up, and told her friends something. She flashed them a smile – which Percy could tell was fake – and then walk farther away from them. He didn't blame her. His disappearance must have brought her down, and now she looked like she was going to cry in defeat.

Percy studies his girlfriend. Her face had changed. Sure, she still had those fierce gray eyes and pink lips, but her eyes contained a lot of sadness. He understood how she felt. To him, it felt like the most important part of him had ran away, and disappeared into thin air.

She seemed slimmer, and her shirt looked awfully big now. He made a mental reminder to buy her a new one. Her eyes were puffy, like it did nothing but cry. Percy knew what she had been going through, but he didn't think it would be this serious. This was a _major_ breakdown.

Percy sighed. If only he could see her now, in person. Maybe everything would've cleared up for him. His past would probably come back, even though they were going to come bit by bit. Percy took one last look at those intense gray eyes, before he woke.

"Percy," Hazel hissed from in front of him. Frank was looking down at him. Percy looked outside. As far as he was concerned, it wasn't close to daylight. But that didn't matter right now. Not when Percy saw Hazel's terrified face. "We're being followed. By some unexpected friends."


	10. X: Frank

X

Frank

Hazel's eyes were intense. Frank had never seen eyes that suddenly turned dark and wary, not even a child of Mars or Minerva. "Friends?" Percy managed to choke out.

Hazel nodded, looking around the sleeping figures in the bus. "They're up front. Ever heard of Stheno? Or Euryale? They're here."

Percy's eyes widened, growing to the size of gigantic saucers. His face paled, and his hands trembled with fear. He grabbed Riptide, like whenever he felt danger was nearby. Frank gazed all around the room, only to find sleeping mortals. "Who are they?"

Percy trembled. "Gorgons," he whispered, hoping the monsters won't hear him. "Met them before I got to camp. Now they're planning revenge on me because I killed their sister."

"Medusa? Frank whispered, making sure his voice was really low. Percy bit his lip and nodded. "A few years back, to be honest," he added.

Hazel was glancing at the direction of two women in a store-clerk outfit. Frank looked at Percy and gave him his best '_they're the ones?'_ fave. Percy stiffened, and nodded. His face was grim, and Frank could tell whatever happened before was _not_ pretty. Finally, he decided something. "We got to get out."

Hazel rolled her eyes. "Anything else to point out, Captain Obvious? How are we supposed to get pass them? They're sitting in the front seat!"

Percy sighed. "If only we had Annabeth's invisibility cap," he muttered, low enough so only Hazel and Frank could hear. Finally, he took Riptide out of his pocket. "I'll distract them, you guys go escape."

"No!" Hazel hissed at him, her eyes like sharp blades piercing your nerves so you could hardly move. "If you d that, you'll only get into trouble!"

"Then I'll go distract," Frank offered, but it was clear his two friends were going to decline. Frank sighed. "Fine, let's do it the stupid way; we go right pass them and pray to the gods they won't see us."

Hazel rolled her eyes at the plan, but seeing they kept arguing on things, it was better to follow the plan than wait until they wake up and find them on the bus. Frank quickly grabbed his backpack and motioned the others to follow him. Sneaking without getting caught was his specialty.

It was hard to stay still when the bus was still moving. The driver kept driving, despite the sleepy look he had on his face. Hopefully he would stay awake, so these mortals could stay safe for once.

Frank's predictions came true; Stheno and her sister were very much asleep. He held his breath, and mouthed 'let's go' to his companion. Percy's eyes widened, and Frank only had enough time to see what it was, before dodging it.

Euryale had almost his him hard, her hand full of her poisonous gorgon blood. The smile on her face grew into a grin, and she lunged at him. Frank didn't know what the driver saw through his rearview mirror, but he was guessing it wasn't goo, since he stopped with a sudden break.

The driver screamed, causing all the passengers to wake up. "Run outside boy! Hurry before it eats you!" the driver screamed at him. Then all Hades broke loose.

Percy grabbed Hazel's hand, causing her to blush slightly pink. He grabbed Frank's hand as well, before pulling them outside onto the open road. The gorgons leaped out, hissing with delight.

"So you've come back for more, demigod?" Euryale asked, her eyes dancing with delight and mischief. If she weren't a deadly monster, and more of a friendly demigod, then Frank would've guessed she was related to Mercury.

Percy uncapped his pen, and his sword sprung to life. Hazel started shooting arrows, all of them hitting the gorgons. Frank took out his sword from his magic backpack – a pack his dad had given him a long time ago. The pack could carry just about anything, as many items as you like. But the more things you put inside, the heavier and bigger it got.

Hazel quickly backed up to a tree, getting more distance from the gorgons. Useful for bows and arrows, but if you fought with a sword, you had to get in close. Letting his instincts take over him, he slashed at Stheno, giving her a huge cut. If only he was Mars' kid, he could pulverize them before they could even hiss.

Hazel shot her arrow helplessly. She was running out of arrows, and to her disappointment, she forgot to bring a whole other quiver. Frank quickly grabbed his pack and motioned Percy to follow him into the forest.

The gorgons were hot on their heels. Frank could here them hissing, "Die demigods!" from a mile away. Percy kept running his sword clenched in his hand. Frank quickly put his backpack where it belonged (yes, his back), while Hazel struggled to keep her eyes on the road. Something was distracting her.

"Hurry up! They're getting closer!" Percy yelped. Frank knew this had happened before. He tried to remember something Percy had told him a few days after he arrived at camp. Ah, his mind put the pieces together. He was on a wild goose chase for three days before arriving at camp.

Hazel ran frantically. Suddenly, her eyes grew wide, as if she might have seen a ghost. "Wait!" she yelled frantically, turning to the right. "This way!"

Percy started running after her. Frank groaned, but followed her as well. Looking over his two choices, Frank would probably follow Hazel than turn into some gorgon's dinner.

Hazel led them towards a twisting path. They had taken several turns. Frank got to admit, it was pretty smart. It could possibly make the gorgons lose their tracks, and wonder off somewhere else. But then again, they had managed to continuously find Percy for three days straight. New world record, Frank joked in his head.

"Why are we running this fast?" Percy asked. He was obviously tired. Frank could tell his eyes were ready to drop, as if all the energy had been drained from him.

"Don't you see him?" Hazel asked, pointing straight ahead. Frank looked ahead of her. Trees, trees, a glowing light, trees… Wait. A glowing light, in the middle of the forest? Frank squinted his eyes, trying to get a better view.

There it was. In the middle of the glowing light stood a man, bold and strong. He was riding a red sports car, speeding up and slowing down once in a while. He twisted his course; turning left and right, but never made a U-turn. He had a bow hanging over his shoulder. This could only mean one person.

Finally, the car came to a stop. Frank watched as the car changed into an Audi that would fit the four of them inside. Percy took this opportunity as a way to get to the car. He broke into lightning speed. Finally, when he arrived, he opened the door, immediately snoring at the back.

Frank turned around, to see the gorgons running right behind them. The car beeped at them, and Hazel broke into a run as well. Frank followed her example, managing not to trip over himself. Finally, Hazel slid into the passenger's seat, while Frank slid into the seat next to Percy. Just when the gorgons were about to lung at the car, they sped off.

Percy sighed "Thanks Apollo," he said, catching his breath. Before he knew it, he drifted off into a deep sleep.

Apollo chuckled. "Never been the same since Styx. Anyways, hey kiddo," he greeted Hazel, not taking his eyes off the road, or in this case, air.

Hazel stared at her dad blankly. "Wait – you're Apollo? How come you look different?"

Apollo chuckled to himself. "I'm in my Greek form. I was hoping my cousin back there would notice," he said, gesturing to a sleeping Percy.

Frank frowned. "Greek form?"

"I've said too much."

Suddenly, Percy spoke up, even though he was asleep. "You're acting like a father," he muttered, though his eyes were shut tight.

Apollo sighed. "It's true. But you must know I am an illusion, I'm not really Hazel's dad flying you to who-knows-where. I'm – uh – an illusion."

Percy grinned from his sleep. "Fred."

Apollo laughed, but his face suddenly darkened. "This is as far as my illusion can take you," he said, telling them to get off. Frank had to pull Percy out of the car.

Percy rubbed his eyes, yawning. "D.C," he muttered, before grinning mildly. "This is where you showed up as Fred."

Apollo winked. "I better get going before Zeus finds out. He senses somebody disobeying him. Not that I will get in trouble, since I'm his favorite kid–"

"We'd love to hear the amazing things about you dad, but you better get going," Hazel reminded him. Apollo winked at them, before disappearing into thin air. Percy muttered something about Apollo's fatherly side reminded him of Neptune and stuff.

"Well, let's just do the best we can and get to New York," Hazel said, sighing. Her dad was kind to break the rules for her, but couldn't he have taken them a _little_ further?

"Nah, it'll be good from here," Percy said.

The other two just stared at him wide-eyed. "Annabeth," he simply replied. Frank gave him a quizzical look. "Popped in your head?" he asked. Percy nodded, before rolling his eyes.

"I know we're in D.C. Wise Girl," he said. Hazel stiffened when he mention 'Wise Girl', but when she saw Frank looking at her, she immediately loosen up.

"Leave you to know all the routes," Percy grumbled, before frowning. As far as Frank could tell, his friend was having an argument in his mind. _OK_, he thought. _My friends can be freaks if they want to._

"Percy, it would be best if you stopped fighting and actually help us out here," Hazel sighed, her eyes sad. Frank had never seen her like this. She was always Ms. Sunshine, like Apollo had said a long time ago.

"She told us to find a van," he said before frowning. "Can't you just tell me the _specific_ van?" He paused. Annabeth must be saying something to him right now. "Yeah, and I'm supposed to recognize it, _how_?" Annabeth's turn to talk, leaving the air filled with silence. Percy sighed. "Yeah, yeah. See you at camp." He paused, as if he was saying something in his mind. He turned to Frank and Hazel and told them that they should stay for night.

**-TSON-**

The night was peaceful, at least as peaceful a demigod's night could get. No dreams, good or bad, whatsoever, and no one woke him up to go pull a prank late at night. Sure, he loved doing those kinds of things, but it was getting… old.

Percy was already up, looking out from the balcony. He had his thinking face on, and you rarely see that. Frank cautiously made his way to him. "Morning," he greeted, staring at the view.

Percy smiled. "Hey." The greeting was comforting, but something told Frank that the smile wasn't about the greeting or the fact that he had shown up.

"Did you notice Hazel acting weird?" he asked in a low voice. Hazel was still snoring in the corner. He didn't like talking about other people, and he didn't like to shoot other people weird questions, but Hazel was like his younger sister. He, Gwen and Hazel had been taking care of each other ever since Gwen and Hazel first arrived.

Percy just shrugged. "I'm clueless when it comes to girls."

Frank laughed and patted his shoulder like, 'yeah, I know how you feel.' He didn't get much luck with girls either. He never understood them. The only girl he liked was Gwen, as terrified as he is to admit it. He started seeing her more than a friend after the war against Krios.

"So, about you and Annabeth…" Frank started, but didn't finish his sentence.

"Best friends," Percy replied coldly, like he wished it wasn't true. Frank raised an eyebrow, noticing how quick he had replied. "You like her, huh?"

Percy's expression was unreadable. Suddenly his eyes widened. "Wake Hazel up," he ordered. "'Cause I see our ticket to New York."


	11. XI: Annabeth

XI

Annabeth

Annabeth woke up, her eyes puffy from crying at the beach earlier last night. She had given Percy another clue on how to get to camp, but she couldn't stand seeing him travel with another girl, much less the girl that had been spying on him by the lake some time ago.

Annabeth rushed to the bathroom. She was the only one awake, and she didn't want her brothers and sisters to see her all depressed. She washed her face and took a quick shower, washing her face again. She gave herself one last mirror check. The puffy eyes were still there, just not as puffy as they were.

She quickly put on her Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, and put on some jeans. Grabbing her sneakers, she went out of the bathroom, to see her siblings all up and about. She sighed and put her sneakers on the floor by her bed and started tidying their cabin.

Annabeth had completely lost the will to live. She missed Percy too much, even though he was on his way here. _Just hold yourself together a little longer,_ she told herself. _For Percy._

She could skip breakfast. She didn't really need the food anyways. What harm can skipping breakfast do? Then she remembered the shifts. She had put herself in three groups, so she would be working three shifts. She would definitely need the energy.

She quickly told her cabin to line up and they all marched to the pavilion. She had taken the first shift, so she needs to be quick with breakfast and hurry to Bunker 9. She watched as a strawberry delivery van from camp left to make its deliveries. She remembered ordering those merchandise from that museum in D.C. She told the man she lived on East One-hundred-and-fourth and First, Percy's house. So now Percy could find his way back home.

She shook her head. Now's not the right time to think about Percy. She needed to keep going and help finish the ship. She told the goblet to fill itself with milk. She noticed her siblings smiled when she said "milk", like she finally decided to give up on a worthless, pointless diet. She ate the pancakes and ate the fruit that had been prepared at the side of the dish as a decor. Blueberries were her favorite, since they were Percy's. She drank her milk, and rushed to Bunker 9.

**-TSON-**

"Annabeth! What should I do with this?" a Hephaestus kid asked her, showing her part of a fountain. "They said they had gotten a better one."

Annabeth sighed and put down the blueprint she was studying, and rushed over to help. Sure enough, there was a better, modified piece on the worktable, and the kid was holding the old one. "Just use it to build something else. Reuse it."

The camper nodded, and hurried off to find his partner. Leo offered to watch the whole day, while Jake offered to do it at night. Part of the first shift was finishing the deck, but most of them were building the inside.

Leo walked up to Annabeth, who had returned studying the blueprint. He studied the blueprint as well, and as far as Annabeth could tell, he was calculating the pieces and everything. "Well, at this rate, we could finish it all in three days!" Leo exclaimed cheerfully. Apparently, the other campers heard that happy note, and they cheered as well.

"You're a genius, Valdez," Annabeth said, looking up from the blueprint. She smiled sweetly.

"Aw shucks," he said. "It was nothing really. But you can call me genius whenever you want! Announce it to the whole camp as well, if you like!" He grinned at his ego-joke.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Sure Valdez. I'm sure Chiron would like to make _that_ announcement."

Leo waved, and vanished into the sea of worktables and campers. Annabeth sighed and grabbed a hammer. She had to help as well, if they were going to finish this in three days.

**-TSON-**

"Alright! End of first shift!" Leo announced, and the first group went outside to do their regular activities. The second shift went in, with Jason and Piper behind them. They were grinning at each other mildly, like they had shared a funny joke. Annabeth smiled.

She headed outside and met up with the rest of her cabin. "So, what's on the schedule?"

Malcolm turned, grinning at his half-sister. "Archery," he said. "You missed Pegasus Riding."

Annabeth sighed. She loved Pegasus Riding classes, especially since Percy had always done it with her. Percy taught Pegasus Riding all the time. Butch taught campers as well, but Annabeth always like Pegasus Riding classes with Percy. But Percy only taught the new kids, so they could get comfortable with the Pegasus. After that, they're off to Butch's class.

Annabeth followed her brothers and sisters to archery. They had archery with the Apollo cabin that day, and she hated having the class with them. They always boasted when the Athena cabin couldn't get a bull's eye. Very few of the Apollo cabin got into the Master Archery classes with Chiron, since Chiron thinks they weren't ready for such skill yet. Only archers that had trained for centuries, like Will (he didn't really train for centuries), got in.

She grabbed a bow and a quiver of arrows, and walked over next to Malcolm. They listened to Austin, a son of Apollo, as he gave them tips and tricks on using a bow and arrow. Annabeth wasn't really in the mood to listen, and Austin could see that. Once he was done, Annabeth started shooting.

She noticed the Apollo campers stare at her in disbelief. Annabeth didn't realize it, but she kept shooting bull's eye, like a regular Apollo kid. No matter how far she got, she kept hitting the center point.

Austin smiled at this. "I think Annabeth shoots better when she's depressed," he teased, but Annabeth let the comment go. She didn't need some Apollo kid to tell her that. This is her tenth summer at camp, and she knows she kept getting bull's eye when she felt close to tears.

Annabeth put down the bow. She had finished her arrows, and there wasn't a single one left. She sat down on the bench and watched her siblings train. There was supposed to be a game of Capture the Flag today, but with the ship going on, and the Hephaestus, Athena, Zeus and Hecate cabin being not available, the game was cancelled. Of course, the Ares kids blamed it all on Percy.

Annabeth checked her watch. The fourth shift isn't starting in two hours, so she got two hours to train. Austin announced that everyone was dismissed, and Annabeth told her cabin to line up.

"So now we're going canoeing," Malcolm told everyone, and everyone groaned. That wasn't their best class, since water was around. The Athena kids usually get thrown off the canoes, or their canoe would stop moving completely, not matter how much they paddled. The only person who didn't have that problem was Annabeth, and she was guessing it was all connected to her being the girlfriend of Poseidon's son.

"Can't we skip it? We're allowed to skip one activity a day, right?" one of her half-sisters asked.

Malcolm looked at Annabeth and she understood why he had told them they wouldn't be skipping Canoeing. Malcolm thought that maybe the presence of the water would help her forget Percy, since she found out that Percy was right about the water dissolving your most disturbing thoughts away.

Annabeth shook her head, telling him to tell them they could skip it. Besides, canoeing and water just reminded her more of Percy. She sighed. Malcolm shrugged. "OK, we'll skip it."

A small cheer erupted from the Athena cabin. "So let's go to Arts and Crafts." Annabeth led them to the building up on the hill. The words 'Arts and Crafts' were written above the doorway in Greek, and below it, in English. To make it worst, it was in red cursive. Thank Dionysus for his weird sense of humor.

She went in, and grabbed the project Percy, Thalia and her had been working on a long time ago. It was a small statue of three figures, two girls and a boy. Annabeth remembered the day when they had made it. Percy and Thalia had their usual Big Three argument.

Percy would say, "Alright! There should be huge tidal waves, and strong currents, and sea creatures like dolphins, fish, sharks..."

Then Thalia would pop in and say, "What? Sea creatures? No way! There should be massive lightning bolts and electric spears and thick thunderous clouds looming overhead!"

And then they would go on and on, having a debate on Poseidon's half and Zeus' half. Then Annabeth would tell them to stop, and she said they could make a statue of the three of them, each with a _little _something they want on their figurine.

The idea was to create their figurine and decorate it with the things they like. Annabeth had to warn them not to put to many things. Annabeth had chose something simple for hers; an owl, perched on her shoulder, and a stack of books by her feet, tied together with a ribbon.

She looked over at Percy's project. Tidal waves were smashing each other at the bottom, and dolphins and sea creatures were jumping out of it. The Percy figurine was sitting on Blackjack, his trusty, faithful pegasus.

Thalia's figurine was similar. She was sitting on a throne, and above her, a huge thick thundercloud was 'floating'. Thalia had no idea how to make the cloud float over her (of course, it was impossible), so she basically attached part of it to her throne, so it _looked_ like it was floating. She was holding a lightning bolt, and on the ground laid multiple electric spears. Annabeth guessed when she said a _little _something, this was little for them.

She began working on her figurine once more, carefully adding a pinch of silver glitter on the owl and on the books. She wanted them to look like a blessing, since they were important to the children of Athena.

"Hey, what's this?" a voice asked her. She looked to her left, where Thalia's figurine was standing, and saw Jason, staring at her sister's statue. "Is this Thalia?"

Annabeth laughed at her friend's face. "Yeah, way to be full of herself," she laughed. Annabeth had just now realized that Thalia had made herself in the image of Zeus, sitting on the throne acting almighty.

"I am _not_ full of myself," a voice said. Annabeth and Jason looked up, to see a grinning Thalia in the doorway. Next to her stood Nico, the son of Hades.

"You guys are making mini figurines of yourselves and you didn't tell me?" Nico pouted. "I want to make one too!"

Annabeth sighed. "OK, we'll make it a statue of the four of us. But you can only add a _little _something on you figurine."

Nico beamed with pride. "That's alright. I just wanted a hill, and I'm standing on it, with a skeleton guard and a grave."

Annabeth smiled. "At least someone understands when I said, 'a _little_ something'." Thalia glared at her, but then burst out laughing. "Yeah, sure," she said.

Thalia flashed her brother a smile. "How's my little brother doing?"

Nico looked confused, and Jason, Annabeth and Thalia laughed. "I'm Jason Grace, Thalia's sister. I'm Roman and she's Greek, so yeah," Jason explained, taking Nico's hand and shaking it.

"Nico di Angelo, son of Hades," Nico greeted, not taking his eyes off Jason. He was studying her, and turned to Thalia. "What makes him your brother?"

"Oh yeah? How many differences do you see?" Thalia asked him, but it was more like dared to answer.

"First, he's blonde, and you have black hair. Second, he looks tougher than you, and third, he's nice, you're mean. I don't think he'll go around and electrocute his cousins when she's mad at someone," Nico said, grinning mischievously.

"I swear, di Angelo, when Percy gets back, I'm going to fry you both until I get a fried ghost and a burnt-out fish head."

Nico gulped. Annabeth laughed. She hadn't seen a Big Three fight in ages. Thalia looked at her friend, glad she could make her laugh. Jason looked at her, like he was glad to see the other side of Annabeth, or to what Thalia, the _real_ Annabeth. Nico looked at her like she was a psycho. "You like the idea of me fried?"

Annabeth shook her head, still laughing. "I haven't seen a Big Three drama in ages. I guess I kind of missed it," she smiled, holding back giggles. Nico laughed in agreement. "Yeah, I guess we always make a big drama out of it. But mostly it comes from goddess of dramas over here," he said, pointing to Thalia.

"That's it!" Thalia said, and her bracelet turned into her electric spear. She charged at Nico, while Nico ran all around the Arts and Crafts building screaming, "Dead warriors rise!" But since he couldn't stab his sword in the ground while running, the dead warriors didn't appear.

"Are they always like this?" Jason asked, watching his sister chase his Greek cousin all around the room, bumping into some Athena kids who were busy with their own projects.

Annabeth nodded, laughing. "You should see the bigger drama when Percy's..." her voice disappeared. She couldn't stand talking about him. "Anyways, yeah, but sometimes it's a whole lot bigger."

Jason smiled, and nodded, and continued watching his sister shout death marks at Nico. Annabeth sighed, focusing her attention on her figurine. Escaping Percy for a few extra days was not going to be easy.


	12. XII: Jason

XII

Jason

Jason was glad to hear that they weren't going to the Roman camp and pick Percy and two demigods before racing off to Greece. Sure, he wanted to see his old friends; they could help him regain _all_ of his memories. But he can't face Reyna, not after that dream telling him they were probably something more. And he didn't want to break Piper's heart. He could tell she liked him, and he liked her back too. But with this whole Reyna thing, he couldn't bring it up to her.

Jason watched as his sister and his Greek cousin run all around the arts and crafts building, covered in glitter, glue, clay, paint and basically everything else they bumped into. He didn't know the kids of the Big Three could get this handful. If this Percy Jackson guy were here, the mess would probably be a whole lot bigger.

He shook his head. His life would get even more chaotic with psycho-cousins and a hyped older sister. His life was already messed up, with Leo being all quirky and such. He watched Thalia push Nico onto the ground, sitting on top of him. Annabeth shook her head. "Your family's messed up," she pointed out. Jason laughed.

Piper and Leo walked in. "I heard there was a party crashing around these parts. I can't believe you guys didn't send me the invites!" Leo joked. Piper rolled her eyes. Suddenly, she had a confused expression on her face.

"Who are you?" she asked, looking at Nico as he brushed off the glitter off his pants. Thalia had finally gotten off him, and Nico was having trouble standing up, mainly because Thalia had poured paint all over the floor he was standing on. It was slippery, no duh.

"Nico di Angelo," he greeted.

Piper looked at Annabeth. "The kid Annabeth mentioned. The kid who sometimes show up."

Nico glared at Annabeth. "Yep, and I absolutely _love_ the way you described me, _Annabeth_," he said, taking careful steps.

Thalia laughed. "That's what you get for being a son of Hades. You tend to be half-dead."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Ha-ha, I love your humor, couz." Nico finally got out of the pool of paint, but paint was still on the soles of his shoes. Being an idiot, he took a step and slipped, right into the paint-pool. "Ugh," he groaned, holding his head.

Thalia laughed harder. Jason shook his head. They weren't psychotic cousins/sisters. They were psychotic and chaotic and way out of the league cousins/sisters. Leo gave Jason a look that said, is this your family?

Jason sighed. It was the truth. The Greeks had always been lose and fun. They weren't obsessed with training. They played war games to train. They had canoeing lessons for gods know what. As far as Jason could remember, Romans weren't like this. They were always training. No games, much less canoeing lessons, or Arts and Crafts. They didn't even bother to paint clay beads for each camper, to make them remember the most important event of the summer. What do they do instead? They burn lines in their skin with magic.

Jason could see why Romans and Greeks don't mix. He was Roman, and sometimes, he thinks Greeks were nuts. There weren't any idiotic fights like the Big Three fight Nico and Thalia were having now back at the Roman camp. The only fighting there was at the Roman camp was swords clashing, blood dripping, and battle cries yelling. The typical stuff.

Piper walked up to Jason with Leo right behind her. "Well, looks life your life is more messed up then we thought," she joked. Jason forced a grin. Seeing Piper made his stomach do flips, but it always brought the thought of Reyna back. What if they were something more? He could already imagine Piper's heart shatter.

"Jason, something wrong?" Piper's voice asked, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Yeah," he managed. Piper studied him, before telling Leo and Annabeth that she will be seeing them later during fourth shift.

"When is the fourth shift?" Annabeth asked, checking her watch. Her eyes widened. "_Vlacas_," she said, calling herself an idiot. "I better hurry."

She rushed out the building to catch up with Piper, leaving Jason with Leo and my psychotic family. Suddenly, he just realized something. "Hey, Leo, why aren't you building the ship?"

"I need my break as well, Sparky," he said, teasing him with my nickname.

Jason rolled my eyes and helped Nico stand up. "Thanks," he muttered, before turning to Thalia. "Now I have to go and change, unlike I planned to." He glared at Thalia one last time before leaving. As he walked, he left a trail of blue paint behind him.

Thalia walked over to Jason. "Well, at least it wasn't red paint," Thalia said, before waving and rushing to the Artemis Cabin to get changed.

Leo and Jason sighed and grabbed a bucket and a mop and started cleaning up the mess.

**-TSON-**

"How's it going?" Jason asked as soon as Leo and him got to Bunker 9. Annabeth was covered in motor oil from head to toe, while Piper was rushing around handing lemonade and water.

"Something's wrong with the engine. I tried to fix it, but you saw what happened," Annabeth said, putting down a hammer and a wrench. "We'll never fix it in time. The inside is going great, by the way. Should be finished by tomorrow." She grabbed a towel and wiped her face clean. "I'm not very good with motors. I'm just going to get changed. Be right back."

She left the workshop. Leo grabbed a copy blueprint of the engine. "That's not supposed to be that way. And the calculation's all wrong..." Leo said, pointing at the different measurements and parts of the engine. "No, they calculated the form all wrong." He looked up. "OK, who changed the blueprints? And where's the real ones?"

Nobody said a word. Finally, an Athena girl pointed at a table in the corner. "It's locked. I think Nyssa has the key," she said.

Leo turned to Jason. "Hey, Jas, mind if you, uh, go run and find Nyssa? I really need that key." Jason nodded. He needed to help out somehow anyways. "Sure," Jason quickly told him, before running towards Cabin 9.

**-TSON-**

Jason walked in. He heard Cabin 9 held a lot of surprises, and he didn't want to find out. Well, let's just say there was this time where he stepped on a landmine in Cabin 5. Things were not pretty. "Knock, knock?" he said, though it came out like a question.

Jake Mason was sleeping in a bunk, probably catching up with his sleep. He was taking the night shift, after all. Little Harley was sitting on his bunk, using his hammer to build something. Jason carefully made his way to him. "What's up, Harley?"

Harley looked up and smiled when he saw Jason. "Hey Jason. I'm just trying to make a decent mini-helicopter, like the one Leo made last week. It was awesome," he told him. "But I can't get it right."

Jason patted him on the shoulder. "You'll get it right, don't worry," he encouraged. Harley smiled. Jason had always been close to the Hephaestus cabin, since he was a best friend of Leo's. Suddenly he remembered why he came to this cabin in the first place. "Say, have you seen Nyssa around?"

Harley stopped hammering and looked up. "Yeah, I think so. I think I saw her heading towards the stables with Shane." Jason tried to remember who Shane was. Harley saw his expression, and added, "Shane's my older half-brother."

Jason quickly told said 'thank you' and rushed out to the stables. Sure enough, he saw Nyssa and Shane, a buff looking guy with dark hair and tanned skin. His expression held confusion. Jason jogged up to them. "Hey guys, Leo sent me here. He wanted the keys for the real blueprints," he said.

"Here," Nyssa said, handing him the keys. "Oh, while you're at it, do you mind telling him that we've got some problems with Project 10. He'll get what that mean."

"Oh, OK, but I think he's already busy with the Argo II–"

"This is part of it. Just send him the message." Jason nodded and started making his way back to Bunker 9. He didn't like the woods; it was crammed with deadly monsters that would attack you from time to time. Why they had built Bunker 9 in the deepest parts of the forest – gods, only Hades would know.

He walked into the woods, holding his gladius nearby. Technically, it was Juno's Gladius, but she had given it to him after feeling responsibly for the loss of his old weapon. He disappeared into the crowd of trees before him.

They had been building a safe route to Bunker 9, but it was cut short when the situation of the Argo II got worst. It was left unfinished for a while, but some Hephaestus kids and some Hecate kids went back to work. It was a path, a magical path that had a special magic boundary. It took the Hecate cabin ages to perfect that magic boundary enchantment spell, and they wanted to use their new spell for a great reason.

Now that the Argo II's process was stable, some kids continued building the route. Part of it was closed down until further notice, which meant Jason had to take the dangerous way to the workshop to get to safe route. The safe route was faster and quicker anyways.

He slashed at some vines. A dryad appeared and scowled at him, before disappearing in green smoke. He sighed, and made his way deeper in the woods. Finally, he saw it, a path of dirt with green aura surrounding it. He stepped towards the path. He was finally on the safe route.

In no less than five minutes, he was already at the workshop. Leo was back to yelling orders and fixing stuff. "Here," Jason said, handing Leo the keys.

"Thanks," he said. "I was starting to wonder if Nyssa had beaten you up."

Jason rolled his eyes. Suddenly, he remembered the message. "Nyssa said she's going to need some help with Project 10," he told him. Leo opened the small cabinet. He grabbed the blueprints and laid it out on the table.

"Project 10, huh?" he asked, searching through the blueprints. "Do you mind doing me another favor?"

Jason shrugged. It was fine. He wanted to help, but he didn't know how to build stuff. Leo grinned. "Mind playing Leo's Hermes for today?" Leo asked him, looking at the original blueprint of the engine.

Jason sighed. He wasn't even a son of Hermes. Hermes was his dad's messenger. Someone should be _his_ Hermes for a day. But instead of saying that, he told him, "Sure. Anything to help."

Leo looked up and grinned. "Thanks, bro. Give this blueprint to Nyssa and call a Hecate kid to help out. This project will need a little magic. That's probably her problem," he told him, handing him a blueprint. "You might want to call Penelope, she's the best magician in camp. Well, at least the one that's available at the moment. Not that kind of available! I mean–"

Jason laughed. "Take it easy dude. And sure, I'll call Penelope. No worries."

Leo sighed gratefully. He smiled at him before grabbing a hammer, a wrench, a screwdriver and some other tools, running towards the engine room of the ship. Jason made his way outside. Suddenly, the blueprint fell out of his hands. He had bumped into something. No, more like some things. He looked up and made up two identical figures.

"Sorry Jason," one said, handing him the blueprint.

Jason stood up. He finally recognized the figures. They were Travis and Connor Stoll, son of Hermes. "Hey, you guys are Hermes' kids, right?"

Connor rolled his eyes. "Duh."

"Do you know a way to deliver messages from Bunker 9 to somewhere inside camp?" Jason asked, brushing the dust off his pants.

Connor and Travis exchanged looks. "We got here pretty fast. Not sure how, though. Probably in our blood. Anyways, we got a message from Annabeth. She slipped on the way to the cabin. She told us to tell you guys that she won't be back 'till the seventh shift. Who knows what that mean," Travis said, before rolling his eyes.

"Oh, OK. But I'm really on a rush to play Leo's messenger, so can you guys tell Leo that? He's in the engine room of the ship. I would be careful if I were you, the engine had exploded about half an hour ago," Jason warned, before rushing off to find Penelope.

**-TSON-**

The Hecate cabin was the most dangerous place to be. At least, that's what Jason heard. The walls of the cabin were made of stones with magical inscriptions and writings, and if the stone was dropped, it could turn anyone within a half mile into a tree or simply explode. But Jason would not want to see those two things happening. (**A/N: The next few descriptions of the cabin are out of my imagination, so the cabin don't really look like that. Just saying.**)

The stones weren't glued in place. They had to be careful. Magic keeps it in place, but it still can be moved. The doors were dark purple. Two statues of dogs were placed next to the door, their eyes following Jason as he walked. Dogs are Hecate's sacred animal.

Inside, the whole place was dark and mysterious. A veil of purple see-through silk covered each bunk from top to bottom. Potions were everywhere, and ancient spell books covered the shelves. A real Siberian Husky was sleeping in the corner, though Jason knew it could sense him there.

At the far end of the room was a fireplace with a cauldron sitting on top of it. The tips of the fire were glowing green. In front of the cauldron were two figures. They were currently bickering about magic potions.

"No! For the millionth time, that's not the spell!" One yelled. She looked about fourteen with dark curly hair that reached her waist and piercing blue eyes. But there was something about her eyes. At the edges, they were dark purple, slowly turning red. She had a purple streak in her hair, and you could tell she was rebellious. She wore a black leather jacket and a purple dress. In her hair was a hairclip in the shape of a dog. Her black boots were soaking wet.

"Jeez, Pen, you don't need to get angry just because I spilled some potion into your boots," the other told her, rolling her eyes. She was a brunette. Her hair was shorter than the other, just below her shoulders. Unlike the other, she didn't look like she had curled her hair on purpose. Her hair was straight, a little curly at the bottom. But it was natural curly. Not I-grabbed-a-curling-iron-and-curled-it curly. Not like the other.

The brunette was probably a year younger than the other one. She had warm, brown eyes that were magical and mesmerizing. She wore an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt under her unzipped purple jacket. Her long skinny jeans reached her ankles and her feet were covered in a pair of western boots. "You can't go blaming everybody!" she yelled.

"Me? Blaming everybody? You spilled the toxic potion in my boots!" the other screamed. Jason wanted to stop them from fighting, but from what he'd heard, they know spells that could turn anyone into a rabbit or a rat.

"You are so annoying sometimes!" the brunette yelled. She grabbed a bag and a wand, slipping it inside her boot. "Maybe you should get another best friend! I'm out!"

Jason hoped the brunette didn't mean leave camp for good. She wouldn't last a day alone, unless she got lucky. Jason watched her storm pass him. The older one sighed and walked over to him. "Don't worry about her. We have fights like this all the time," she said.

"Don't you ever get tired of fighting?" Jason asked her.

She shrugged. "Nope. I'm Penelope Campbell, daughter of Hecate, but I guess you could already see. The girl just now was Karen Martin, my half-sister and best friend," she said, watching the door. She did a countdown with her fingers from three. "3, 2, 1..."

Suddenly, Karen walked back in. Her eyes were puffy. "Sorry, I got overboard," she sniffed. Penelope smiled, not feeling awkward about the fact Jason was there. Jason, however, felt the exact opposite. They gave each other a friendly hug, before Penelope turned back to Jason. "Karen this is..." her voice faltered, realizing he hadn't introduced himself.

"Jason. Jason Grace," he said.

"The Roman?" Karen asked. Jason bit his lip and nodded.

"Anyways," Jason continued, wanting to drop the conversation, "Leo told me to come get you, Penelope. He said he needed you to help with a project. Something called Project 10."

Penelope nodded. "Can Karen come too?"

Jason shrugged. "I guess. Come on, I'll take you to the stables. I have to drop something there anyways."

Penelope smiled and followed Jason out of the cabin with Karen. Once they reached the stables, Jason quickly made his way to Nyssa and Shane. He didn't have all day. He needed to get back to Leo.

"Hey, Nyssa!" Jason yelled, waving his hands at her.

Nyssa looked up. "Where's Leo?" she asked when Jason got to her.

"Couldn't come. Told me to give you this. He said Project 10 just needs a little magic, so I brought Penelope and Karen with me," he said, handing Nyssa the blueprint.

Shane took the blueprint and studied it. "Of course! Magic! How come I haven't thought of that?" he asked, smacking himself on the forehead.

"Thanks," Nyssa told him. "We'll take it from here. You should go back to building the ship, or whatever you're doing." Jason nodded and made a beeline to the woods.


	13. XIII: Hazel

XIII

Hazel

Hazel woke up to the sound of Frank yelling in her ear. She immediately sat up, pushing Frank away from her. "What happened? Are we under attack?"

Frank rubbed his head, probably trying to release pain. He had bumped his head on the side of Hazel's bedside table, and Hazel guess that that must've hurt. "No, we just need to hop on that van before it drives away," Frank said, pointing to a FedEx van just outside a museum across the street.

Hazel nodded and threw off her bed covers. She didn't even bother to change; they _were_ in a hurry. Percy came out a few seconds later, wearing a clean shirt. Hazel looked at Frank and saw he had changed as well. She rolled her eyes. Sure, she was a girl and all. Staying clean would be on the top of her list. But they needed to get to van, and that would mean no more delays.

The three demigods grabbed their things and hurried out the door. They had almost reached the van, when they heard the engine start. Two men started loading things into the van. Hazel groaned. "Now what?"

Frank wore mischief in his eyes. "On my command." They waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, the two men left the back of the van open. "Now."

The three of them ran towards the back of the van. They hopped in, and started making their way deeper inside. They didn't want to get caught. Hazel heard noises. Frank put his fingers to his lips. They waited until the noises died down, and the doors of the back of the van shut. Hazel let out a sigh of relief. Suddenly, Hazel realized something she never thought of before they got in the van. "How do we know this is the right van?"

"We don't. I just have a feeling it's the right one," Percy answered truthfully. Hazel glared at him, and he looked away. He started rummaging through the packages.

"What are you doing?" Hazel hissed. She was angry at him for two reasons; one, for not knowing if this was the right van, thus might ending them up in another part of the word (not really); two, he had broken part of her heart by caring for the Annabeth girl. She thought he knew she had a crush on him, and she thought he liked her back. Now she wasn't so sure.

Frank got over to Percy's side of the van. Hazel rolled her eyes. Sure, she was in a bad mood. But that doesn't mean she will take it out on Frank, her "older brother". Percy kept searching. "I'm looking for a certain package," he said, lifting one. He tried to read the address. "Maybe there's one with Annabeth's name."

There it was. That little, good-for-nothing name. Hazel wasn't sure why she hated her. Maybe it was jealousy. Yes, of course it had to be jealousy. She was happy for Percy as well, though. He has a girl who loved him, and he most possibly loved her back as well. But she couldn't help but feel jealous of them. If only she had know Percy before he had met Annabeth. Then maybe he would fall for _her_. Hazel shook her head. She couldn't think this way. "I'll help," she offered, but she knew the boys could tell it was said half-heartedly.

Frank and Percy nodded, and Hazel searched her side for packages. What was Annabeth's last name again? Chase. That was it. She searched throughout the pile of deliveries the men in the front had to made. There were a lot of them. She kept searching, trying to ignore the pang in her heart. She felt guilty for some reason. Her heart was broke, but it somehow managed to feel guilty and of course, jealous.

Finally, Hazel saw it. She grabbed it, and whispered. "Guys, I found it!"

Percy and Frank hurried to her. Percy grabbed the package frantically, as if he had wanted to hold that package for centuries. Here we go again. Percy had managed to hurt her. She tried to hold back the tears. Why had she even volunteered for this stupid quest anyways? Then she remembered what Percy had said. She was his best friend, nothing more. He _tricked_ her into coming. That only made her heart feel heavier. Of course, he didn't mean it. He just didn't want anyone to know that there might be a possible chance that she was his girlfriend. She blinked back the tears, and told herself to forget.

As soon as she lifted her head, she noticed the worried looks of her two companions. She just shook her head, and gave Frank a look that told him she would tell him later on. Frank nodded and Percy took that as a cue to talk. "I can't exactly read the address, but I can read part of it. East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," he told us. He frowned. "Funny. This seems very familiar– "

He was cut short. Muffles of people talking could be heard outside. Only then had Hazel realized that the van had come to a stop. "Quick, hide!" she hissed, hurrying to a dark corner in the van. She stacked a million of FedEx packages on her head, and she was almost invisible. She hoped Percy and Frank had hid themselves well.

"Hey George, what do you call a boomerang that doesn't work?" one said, grabbing a package off Hazel's stack. Her purple t-shirt could be seen, but the figures didn't even bother to notice.

"I don't know Harry, what?" George replied. He grabbed another package off the other side of the van. Hazel hoped she hadn't covered herself with packages that meant to be delivered in this particular area.

"A stick!" Harry roared, and the two doofuses laughed. "Come on George, we better hurry with these deliveries, before the boss fires us."

Hazel waited until they were gone. She hoped they would be gone soon, but she was wrong. George stopped moving. "What it is?" Harry asked.

"I smell demigods," George told Harry.

Harry sniffed the air. "Nah, your nose hasn't been working right for a while. We'll get that fixed in no time." Harry started to walk, delivering the packages.

George shrugged. "Maybe," he said. His eyes glared at the pile Hazel was hiding in. She could see that her eyes and his eyes had made contact, but George just scrambled away. Hazel threw the packages away, and grabbed her duffel bag.

"We need to get out of here. Something about those delivery guys doesn't seem normal." She grabbed Frank's backpack, and Percy's duffel bag. She threw it to the guys. "Come on, we only have a few minutes before they return."

Frank was the first to hop off the van. He looked around, searching for the doofuses. "All clear," he told them, and they sneaked around the other side of the van. Frank stopped, and told them to under the van. Hazel reluctantly agreed. If you wanted to sneak past a couple of weirdos, you should trust a son of Mercury to do the job.

Percy hesitated, but Hazel pulled him underneath. Shadows loomed just in front of her eyes. She wanted to scream, but Frank covered her mouth. She had never felt this way before, since she had never tried to sneak past somebody when they were in front of her. She took a deep breath, and removed Frank's hand.

She bit her lip. She could hear their conversation perfectly. They were debating on which pizza was better, one with anchovies or plain ol' cheese. Frank motioned them to crawl back, to get to the other side of the van.

Once they were out of the tight space, they stood up, making sure that their heads weren't close to the windows. Hazel still could hear their conversation. Now they were talking about having their half-bloods well-done. She shivered at the thought.

Frank told Hazel to stay where she was, and Hazel wasn't too happy about that. Percy and Frank went around the van, one from behind her, and one from the front of her. They were going to ambush the monsters. And what was Hazel's job? To stay safe and watch over their belongings. Awesome job, isn't it?

Hazel waited. She started pacing quietly. Suddenly, she heard screams of terror, and Frank and Percy walked back, big smiles on their faces. Hazel looked below the van to see what was on the other side. Golden dust. Monster dust. She smiled, but it was a little soon. She gasped. "We need to get out of here now. They're reforming."

She didn't wait to listen to her older companions to tell her what to do. She pushed Percy into the driver's seat and pushed Frank inside. She hopped on, carrying their stuff. She quickly put them under their seat and told Percy to step on it. She looked out the window to see them starting to reform. Percy saw her shocked face, as the blood drained the color off her face. He took that as signal to step on it.

Once the golden dust was long gone, Hazel let a sigh of relief. "Where are we?" she asked.

Frank took a good look at his surroundings. Hazel noticed a smile creeping up his face. "West Virginia, but we're close to the borders of D.C," he told her. He kept glancing at the windows. Hazel couldn't help but ask. "Was this your home?"

Frank's eyes grew sad, but he still had a smile on his face. "Yeah, grew up here before I took a trip to San Francisco. My mom brought me to the Wolf House and told me to train my best," he said. Hazel was a late starter. Most Roman demigods start at the age of 2-5, but she started at the age of ten. Her mother had held her back because she didn't want to leave her alone. Her heart was attacked by a pang of guilt and heartbreak. She felt guilty for leaving her mother alone and she felt sad at the thought of her mother. She felt her eyes drop, and she fell asleep.

**-TSON-**

In her dream, she had a vivid memory was brought back to life. Her mother was a singer. She sang at clubs from time to time. The house they lived in was huge, complete with a swimming pool, a little game room and a recording studio. The house consisted of five bedrooms, all which had its own private bathroom and closet. She remembered living here. It was home.

The image flickered a bit, but somehow, Hazel had made the image stay. She saw her ten-year-old self walk into the room, holding hands with a little boy. "Come on, Sanders," she told the boy.

They boy looked a little like her. He had the same fair skin, dark locks and a menacing smile. His eyes, however, weren't deep blue like hers. They were chocolate brown. _He_ was a part _Mexican_.

Her mom entered the room and looked at the boy who was about five. "Oh, Sanders, what am I going to do with you?" she said, scooping the young boy in her hands. Hazel stood there, smiling.

The boy was covered in mud from head to toe. "How did this happen, Haze?" her mother asked her.

"He fell in the mud," her young self said, pointing towards a mud puddle outside. Her mom shook her head, smiling at her.

"Go get Sanders cleaned up, my dear," she told her. "I'll be right back."

Hazel nodded and obeyed her mother's orders. She lifted the young boy up and carried him up to her room. She wiped the mud off him and helped him put on some clean clothes. The young boy smiled at her. "You're the best big sis!" he exclaimed, tackling her in his child bear hug.

Hazel smiled. "You're the best younger brother ever, Sanders," she told him, smiling brightly.

"_Te quiero_," he told her, and Hazel understood. He just told her that he loved her. Suddenly, there was a crash downstairs.

Sanders looked at Hazel expectantly. Hazel grabbed him by the hand and lifted him up, carefully making her way downstairs. There, in the middle of the room, her mom laid, dead. Blood dripped from her stomach. The windows were broken, and Hazel knew that the intruder had entered through it. Hazel cried miserably, while her younger brother stared at his mother. "Will she be alright, Hazel?"

Hazel didn't reply. Suddenly, there was a golden light appearing from behind her. She turned around, still with Sanders in her hand. A man stood there. He had blonde hair, tanned skin and a Roman armor. Hazel lifted her eyebrow at the sight. She recognized the man from her history books. "Apollo?"

Apollo's eyes twinkled, but there was a lot of sadness hidden within. "Yes, it is I, Apollo, the Roman god," he told her. Hazel took the information calmly, not wanting to startle her brother. "I'm here to take you to camp."

"Who is he, _hermana_?" Sanders whispered, trembling with fear.

Hazel quickly kissed his cheek. "A friend, _mijo_," she told him, but she herself wasn't sure.

Apollo smiled. "I'm much more than a friend. I'm your father, Hazel," Apollo told her.

Hazel's eyes suddenly filled itself with confusion, happiness, but most of all, hate. She wanted to yell at Apollo for not being there for her family, but most of all her. She wanted to yell at Apollo for not being there when somebody attacked her mom. But she didn't want to scare her little brother. She just glared at him, and Apollo smiled sadly.

"I'll be taking you to camp," he told her, "but unfortunately, your little brother cannot come."

"What?" Hazel demanded. She had completely lost it.

"He is a mortal. You are a demigod. Half-mortal, half–"

"God, yeah, I learned it in history class."

Apollo suppressed a smile. "Good. Your brother cannot come to camp, much less enter. If Lupa sees him, he might be torn to shreds."

Hazel looked at her brother, who was staring at her. "Where would he go, then?"

"I would make sure he gets to his father."

"His father doesn't want him."

"Then we could find a foster home for him."

"He does not want that either."

Apollo sighed. "Listen to me, Hazel. I know you're mad at me, but you have to listen to me. You need to get to camp. Your brother will be safe, I promise. I will find him a home in San Francisco, not too far away from camp. I promise he would be alright."

Hazel thought about it. "If I go, would he be safe? If I go, I could protect him from anything dangerous?"

Apollo nodded, and Hazel sighed. She turned to her brother. "Listen, _mijo_, you have to understand, OK?"

Sanders looked at her expectantly. "I will be good. I will be a good boy for my _hermana_," he told her. A tear escaped her eye as she hugged him tight. A knock sounded on the door.

Apollo looked at the two. "Come, now. That would be the police. They would find your brother. I will make sure he gets to San Francisco safely."

"Stay strong Sanders," Hazel said, hugging him one more time. Sanders nodded, and Hazel left with Apollo in his chariot.

**-TSON-**

Hazel woke up with a start, tears flowing out of her eyes. She had visited Sanders a couple times before. Suddenly, the memory she had wished to forget was back. She remembered something; the day her heart was broken. Sanders had run away from his home in San Francisco. Hazel was coming over to visit that day, only to receive terrible news from his foster parents. Tears flowed out her eyes, waking Frank up.

"Hazel, what's wrong?" he asked. Percy, who was driving, looked at the two as well, but kept his eyes on the road.

_Go to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburg, _the voice said. Hazel recognized the voice.

_Dad?_ She silently asked. _Did you send me those dreams?_

There was silence for a minute as more tears ran down her eyes. _Yes, my dear. Now, I need you to go there, and you will see your little brother. I know somebody who might take him in. She's a very good friend of Percy. I can ensure you it's not Annabeth._ I blushed at that. _You will meet me by Percy's camp. You would also need him to see the camp. They have doubled the magical boundaries so only those who knew the camp existed in that very spot could see it. Your brother would help there. Now hurry, my dear._

Hazel wiped the tears away. "Take me to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburg."

Frank studied her carefully. He knew that she hated museums, but he told Percy to do as she told him to. She looked out the window, silently praying that her brother would be safe.


	14. XIV: Frank

XIV

Frank

Hazel remained quiet the rest of the way. She kept looking out of the window, not wanting to look at anyone. Frank felt sorry for her. He didn't know why she was upset, but she had never broken down before. She had a protective shell wrapped around her to prevent herself from falling apart, and now that armor was scraps. He hadn't seen her cry in _years_. The last time she cried was when her brother disappeared, which was when she was twelve. She had stayed strong for three years, but something brought her apart.

Frank could feel Percy's gaze on her. Percy was one of Hazel's close friends, and Frank knew that Hazel cared for her. He definitely didn't like the idea of her breaking down. Finally, the van stopped. "I'm gonna get us some gas," Percy said, but when he turned to Frank, his face said, 'talk to her, would you?'

Frank nodded and watched Percy get out of the van. He shook Hazel by the shoulder. "Haze," he whispered softly. "We need to talk."

Hazel turned around. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot. Dried tears were marked all over her face. Her Camp Legion t-shirt was crumpled and dirty. Her curly blonde hair flew all over the place. Frank shook his head. He grabbed Hazel's things and took out a shirt. "Get changed. You look terrible."

Hazel gave him a grateful smile, and went to the back of the van to change. After a while, she came out with clean clothes and her curly, dark hair was tied back into a ponytail. Her eyes were still bloodshot and puffy, but the dried tears were long gone. Frank couldn't help but smile at his friend.

"Now, do you mind telling me why you're upset?" Frank asked. His voice was soft and calm. He could see that Hazel was tempted to answer. She looked out the window and stared at Percy. Frank smiled. His friend had a crush.

"Is it Percy?" he asked, hoping it wouldn't startle her.

Hazel sniffed. "I guess I'm jealous, that's all," she admitted. "I had a crush on him, OK? And I thought for a minute... but then..." Her voice died, and she sobbed. Frank patted her back.

"I'm here for you, you know that? I'm pretty sure there would be plenty of boys out there." Hazel smiled.

"Yeah, but I _never_ felt this way about a guy before. I guess I'm taking this hard," she admitted. She started to fiddle with her shirt.

Frank nodded. "And I meant to tell you that before," she continued. "But there was never a good time."

Hazel looked up. "I-I had a dream. A-about m-my past," she admitted, stuttering a little. Sadness, hurt and discomfort gathered in her eyes. But if you looked closer, you could see hate. Her eyes filled itself with hatred, anger, revenge.

"It was the day my mom died, the day Apollo took me to the Wolf House," she whispered. Frank knew this must be a touchy topic for her. "Don't continue, if you don't want to."

Hazel shook her head. "You're like an older brother to me, Frank. I need to tell you," she looked outside. "But don't tell Percy just yet."

Frank nodded and listened as Hazel told her story. How her mother, Rochelle Olson, had married a mortal and had a baby boy named Sanders Delgado, but she changed his surname to Sanders Olson, Rochelle's last name. Frank remembered Hazel telling him that her full name was Hazel Rochelle Olson. Sanders used his father's name for passports, school and all those important stuff. But when somebody would ask for his name, he used Olson.

Jose Delgado was his father's name. He grew up in Mexico, but eventually came to Cali to look for a better life. Hazel was three when her mother got married, so her memories weren't that strong, even for a demigod. When she was five, her mother gave birth to a baby boy. They allowed Hazel to name him, and she named him Sanders, after the sand box in pre-school.

When Sanders was three, Jose and Rochelle got into a fight. They divorced. Jose didn't want the boy, so he gave him to Rochelle. Sanders grew up with Hazel being a mother and sister for him. Sanders didn't remember his dad, but Hazel missed him. He was kind, she said. Always caring for her mother, and made sure Sanders and Hazel were OK. But that fight changed everything.

Frank listened to the story of when Rochelle Olson died. He squeezed Hazel's hand during the story, reassuring her it would be OK. Frank wasn't surprised that Hazel would have felt angry at Apollo; he sometimes felt the same way with Mercury. But that was the way of the gods. They cannot interfere with their children's lives.

Hazel stopped talking. "Haze, I didn't know you had to go through so much," he told her. Hazel wiped a tear.

"Thanks for being there for me, Frank," Hazel said. "I've never had an older brother before."

Frank smiled. Finally, Percy got in the car. "Feeling better, Haze?" he asked her. Frank chuckled when Hazel's cheek turn pink as she nodded. That earned him a punch on his shoulder. "Alright, we need to get going. I'm sure we'll arrive in Pittsburgh soon enough." And with that, they sped off.

**-TSON-**

After going driving so fast, they arrived at Pittsburgh. Hazel was the first one to get off the van. Frank followed after. "Where's the museum?" Hazel asked.

"Should be down the road," Percy told her. Hazel sighed.

"You have no idea, do you?"

"Wasn't my fault I didn't have a map!"

Hazel sighed and started walking. "Where are you going?" Percy asked, jogging up to her.

"To find the museum," she growled, before running off. Percy stood there, unsure of what to make of the scene. Frank walked up next to him.

"She's in a bad mood. It takes a while for our dark Hazel to become Little Miss Sunshine again," Frank reassured him. Percy grinned. "We better hurry after her." Percy nodded, and they ran after her.

The museum was huge and dark colored. It was like a stack of blocks, glued together. The boys walked in. "Wow. Where are we going to find a girl in this?"

There was a hallway leading to several rooms. Frank walked up to the nearest one. "Hall of Architecture," he read, causing Percy to smile. Frank read his older friend's mind like a book. All children of Minerva want to be an architect. Annabeth would love this. He shook his head. They needed to find Hazel, and that was it. "Come on."

They walked further down the hall, until they came upon the museum's gift shop. Frank dragged Percy inside. Hazel must be here somewhere. He thought for a while. Hazel hated museums; she said they were depressing and boring. The only thing that amazes her was these gems and rocks, something girls are interested in. Frank decided to look for an exhibition similar to what he had in mind. He turned to Percy. "Help me find an exhibition with rocks."

"I think we've found them, man," Percy said, pointing to the room behind him. Sure enough, the room was filled with all these gems and rocks.

"Hazel's got to be here somewhere," Frank said, as he searched the place. People crowded the many cylinders that covered the room.

Suddenly, Frank saw a girl with dark, curly hair staring into one of the cases. He rushed over. Sure enough, Hazel was standing there, wide-eyed. Percy followed Frank close behind. "Hazel?"

Hazel looked at him. "I never thought I would see a coral in my life," she said.

Percy smiled. "In Greek, it's called 'korallion'," he told them. Hazel smiled at the fact. She grabbed her duffel bag.

"Come on, I need to find my brother," she said. Percy gave her a quizzical look, but she ignored. She ran towards the dinosaur exhibit. Frank sighed and followed her. Sometimes, she can be so hyper.

They made sure Hazel was still in sight. Frank made sure he was close by, until Percy tugged on his shirt. "What is it now?"

"What's a pack of wolves doing in the dinosaur exhibit?" Frank looked at the direction Percy was pointing. The wolves looked all too familiar. He felt as if he had seen during one of his monsters identifying classes, but he was too lazy to pay attention. Besides, Hazel was getting farther and farther away from them.

Frank shook his head. "We'll worry later. Right now we need to catch up with Haze."

Hazel stopped, staring at a boy with wide eyes. Frank studied the boy. He looked about ten years old with a crooked chin and a sly smile. He had dark, curly hair and chocolate brown eyes. He was tall for his age, but not too tall. His hands were tucked inside his faded jeans' pockets. He wore a sick-green hoodie over his brown long-sleeved shirt. The sleeves were sticking out, since his hoodie had short sleeves.

Next to the boy was a girl, around ten as well. She had black hair that had been curled in the morning. She wore a black leather jacket over a violet tank top, a black ruffle skirt and black stockings. To top it off, her black boots seemed to gleam with magic. She had a couple of purple highlights at the side of her hair and in the front.

A man was talking. He looked like he was in his fifties. He had a mustache that had turned gray. Gray hair grew at the side of his head, leaving a bald spot in the middle. He wore a gray jacket over his white dress shirt. He was teacher. The boy and the girl were having a school fieldtrip.

"Now, the Tyrannosaurus lived about 65.5 million years ago. Its name was diverted from Greek from the word–"

"_Tyrannos _meaning tyrant and _sauros_ meaning lizard," the girl said.

The teacher stared at her in disbelief. "Why, yes, Isabel, that is correct! How did you know?"

"I read it over there," she said, pointing to an inscription on the stone that held the bones. It was written in Ancient Greek. The teacher just stared at her in disbelief, while a girl from the group snickered.

"Trust Isabel the Brains to know _that,_" she said, receiving a glare from Isabel. The boy patted her shoulder, telling her to ignore her. The girl just snickered.

Hazel stood there, in shock. Percy, however, stared at the inscription. Frank stood there like a doofus, not knowing what to do.

_I see you have made it, Roman weakling,_ a voice said from behind Frank said. Frank turned to see the wolf he had seen before, and suddenly, he knew who it was.

"Lycaon," he hissed. Lycaon just gave Frank an amused smile. _A son of Mercury, eh? Very well, I shall make sure my kind have had a good meal!_

Lycaon charged at Frank, but Frank dodged. The tour kids turned to see a wolf attacking a teenager. Frank saw Isabel's friend's eyes widened when he saw Hazel, and a tear slid down his cheek. Hazel looked at the boy with a smile, before turning to Frank.

"Frank! Is that Lycaon?" she asked.

Frank nodded, while trying to avoid Lycaon's bites. His imperial gold sword won't do anything now. Hazel hurried and took out a cylinder out of her duffel bag. She rubbed her necklace and a bow appeared in her hands.

The boy gasped. Percy ran to the girl, protecting her. It appeared that two _empousa_ had begun attacking her, and Percy was defending her. Lycaon was about to bite him, when a silver arrow shot him in the neck. He howled in pain.

"When you need Lupa and her kind, she's not there!" Hazel complained. Frank rolled his eyes, and ran to Hazel's side.

"Got any silver weapon for me?" Hazel gave him her bow. "Hold on," she told him, and began rummaging through her stuff. Frank waited impatiently.

"Guys! A little help here!" Percy yelled. The _empousa _were dominating him. They had complete advantage. Frank gave up.

"Hazel, handle Lycaon and the werewolves, I'll be right back!" he yelled at her, dropping her bow on the ground. He grabbed his sword from his backpack and dropped it to the ground. He ran to Percy's side and helped him fight.

"Are you crazy? I can never take care of a whole pack!" Hazel yelled, but Frank was already in battle. Hazel sighed. Frank could only hope she had enough silver arrows, or at least an escape plan.

Frank looked at the girl. "What's your name, kid?"

"Isabel Brookes," she said. Frank could tell she was scared. He rummaged around his backpack, until he found a knife. "Use this for a while, OK? Attack those things when they get close."

Isabel nodded and ran behind the _empousa_. The boy just stood in the room, bewildered. Frank ignored him, for now. He slashed at the nearest _empousa_, but unfortunately, it didn't hurt her. The _empousa_ tried to grab him, but he rolled about before she could even touch him.

She growled, and charged at him. He slashed, but the _empousa_ blocked him with her arm. "Why are you fighting me? Can't you give this beautiful girl a kiss?" Her image flickered, and she turned into a beautiful blonde girl in a red dress. Frank was entranced. The _empousa _smirked, and lunged.

"Look out!" Isabel screamed, and Frank woke up from the trance. He spun and moved the other way, barely missing her fangs. She growled. Frank slashed again, this time at her stomach. She disintegrated.

Frank turned to look at how Isabel and Percy were doing. Percy slashed at her neck, and she disintegrated as well. He sighed, until Isabel screamed, "Sanders, roll over!"

Isabel's friend rolled. Frank saw that the werewolf just missed him. Hazel ran in front of the boy. "Don't you dare touch my brother!" she yelled, shooting an arrow with such force, that werewolf disintegrated.

She grabbed her brother's hand. "Come on, we got to get moving! We can't fight them all!" Frank knew she was right. Percy lifted Isabel up, while Frank grabbed their stuff. He ran towards the exit.

Once they were out of the museum, they kept running, trying to escape. Sanders grabbed Hazel's hand. "Come on! I'll take you to Isabel's house!"

Isabel nodded from Percy's back. They ran a couple of blocks, until they finally arrived at a house. Isabel opened the door, and they rushed inside. Isabel hopped off Percy's back. "Dad! I'm home! And I have some friends and Sanders with me!" she yelled.

A man rushed from the stairs. You could tell he was in his thirties. He had dark, brown hair and warm brown eyes. Frank looked at Isabel. She had blue eyes that turned purple at the edges. At the very edge, the color turned red. Frank shivered when he saw those eyes, and Isabel must have noticed. "Sorry," she mumbled. "People say I have scary eyes."

Percy chuckled. "Nah, they're not so bad. I think I've seen people with those eyes, but I can't remember where," he told her. She smiled at him.

Her dad hugged her. "Are you alright? Why aren't you at school? Who are those people?"

Isabel laughed. "I think we've switched personalities, dad. I'm fine, I'm not at school because some monsters attacked me and they were the ones who rescued me," she explained, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

Her father sighed. "I'm Davis Brookes, Isabel's father. I must ask, what kind of monsters were they? Were they hellhounds?"

They shook our heads. "No, they were _empousa_, and a couple of werewolves. But we were the ones who brought the werewolves there by accident. We're very sorry, Mr. Brookes," Hazel explained, stroking Sanders's hair.

Mr. Brookes smiled, and led them into the living room. "It looks like you have to go, Isabel. Your mother told me there was this camp for demigods just like you," he explained, handing Hazel, Percy and Frank a cup of tea. Sanders grabbed the cookie jar. Hazel glared at him.

Mr. Brookes chuckled. "It's alright, young lady," he told Hazel. "This is, after all, his foster home."

Hazel perked up at the sound of foster home. "You mean, you're his foster parent? How long has he been living here? Where did you find him?"

Mr. Brookes gave her a sad smile. "I found him in an alley in Pittsburgh. He was shivering cold. So I took him in. He was eight when I found him, and he claimed that he had recently turned eight. And yes, I am his foster parent."

"Thank goodness you're safe," Hazel sighed, and Sanders chuckled. Hazel glared at him. "Just don't do that ever again!"

Sanders rolled his eyes. "Yes, _mother_. But Emma and Bill were mean, _hermana_. They kept torturing me into doing things for them. They made me walk long distances just to get a carton of milk. I could've gone to the supermarket down the block but, _no_, they wanted their milk from the supermarket five blocks down."

Isabel's eyes widened. "She's your sister?"

Percy looked at Hazel expectantly, and she sighed. She began telling the story of her childhood, from the day Rochelle Olson met Jose Delgado. Sanders shifted uncomfortably from time to time at the mention of his dad's name. She continued to the day their parents fought, causing a divorce. Sanders winced in pain when he heard that his father didn't want him. When Hazel talked about their mother's death, tears crawled out of Sanders's eyes. He looked up to see his sister crying too. When she mentioned leaving him to keep him safe, he snuggled by her leg, trying to stop crying.

Once the story was over, Mr. Brookes and Isabel looked down sadly. Even Percy looked sad. "I'm so sorry, Hazel and Frank," Mr. Brookes told them. He looked up and smiled at Sanders. "I told you you'd find your sister someday. Here she is now. You can leave, if you want to."

Sanders looked at his sister, than at Isabel. "Where's Isabel's going?"

Mr. Brookes sighed. "Well, I think she needs to get to camp. You guys _do_ know where it is, don't you?"

"We know it's in New York," Frank blurted, and he cursed his ADHD in Latin. Hazel glared at him, and he stopped. "You see, our friend Percy is Greek, and we're Romans. There are two types of demigods, and we were separated long ago, or so we assume. Our camp is in San Francisco, and Percy's is in New York." Mr. Brookes nodded.

"Am I Roman or Greek?" Isabel asked.

Percy smiled, and asked for a pen and paper. Once Mr. Brookes gave him that, he wrote down something in Ancient Greek. "What does this say?" he asked the girl, holding the paper up.

"Perseus," she read. She winced. "How did I do that?"

"Are you dyslexic?"

Isabel blushed. "Yeah."

Percy smiled. "You're Greek. Your brain was hardwired for Ancient Greek, not for English. That's why it takes you ages to read English, but with Ancient Greek, you read it easily."

"Then why can't I speak Ancient Greek?"

"It takes practice. You'll learn at camp, I'm sure." Isabel smiled.

"You will take her to camp, right?" Mr. Brookes asked, and the demigods nodded. Sanders tugged on Hazel's shirt.

"Can I come?" Hazel looked at Mr. Brookes, who nodded.

Before the heroes left, Mr. Brookes hurried and gave Percy his car keys. "I have two cars. You can use that one. It'll be all right if it gets damaged, I don't need that car anymore. And Isabel," he said, turning to his daughter, "have this. When you're in battle, unclip it from your hair. Wave it around. I don't know how to use it, but I'm sure you do."

Isabel smiled and clipped it into her hair. After saying goodbye, the heroes left, hurrying to New York.


	15. XV: Piper

XV

Piper

Piper sat on the shore of the beach in Camp Half-Blood. It was such a peaceful place. The beach always reminded her of her dad for some reason. Maybe it reminded her of the time they went surfing together. She smiled at the thought. Annabeth had told her that the sea was rebellious. It has its own way and thing. She told her that if you want to understand Percy, you need to understand the sea, and vice versa. Depends on which you met first.

She grabbed her earphones out of her pocket and listened to a couple songs from her iPod. She smiled. Her brothers and sisters were probably running around, trying to think of new outfits to wear for this evening, but she had no problem. She stayed simple, the way she liked it. She was waiting for the eighth shift that day. She closed her eyes. Suddenly, she felt like it was dark. She opened her eyes too see Jason, looking down at her.

"Do you mind if I join you?" he asked. Piper tried her best not to laugh.

"Sure, Sparky," she teased, but Jason didn't seem to mind. She stared at the sky. It had always reminded her of him.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" he asked her. Piper looked at him, confused. He grinned. "The sky. It holds so many wonders and surprises. It can be a raging storm, blowing a wild wind to the west, or a million stars for you to explore."

Piper smiled. The sky was beautiful, like him. It held many wonders. It was powerful as well. "Annabeth once told me that if you want to understand Percy, you have to understand the sea, and vice versa. It makes me think that perhaps the sky and you are very much alike," she said, staring at the sky. Jason smiled at her. "I wonder what it would be like to have wings and be able to soar all throughout the sky, feeling free."

"Yeah, unless my dad decides to shock you out of it," Jason joked, and Piper gave him a little push. "But I won't let that happen."

Piper blushed a little, but continued to stare at the sky. She watched as two Pegasus flew down towards camp. For once, she didn't worry about anything. She forgot her worries of Jason having a girlfriend back at the Roman camp, about her memories of her and Jason suddenly being unreal. She didn't care what happened in the past or the future. All that mattered was what's happening right now.

Jason smiled at her. "You're deep in thought." Piper laughed.

"Nah, I'm releasing all my thoughts, letting them fly and follow the wind," she told him, closing her eyes. She opened it, and looked at the sea. "I don't get the sea as much as I get the sky," she told him truthfully.

"Me neither. The sea is always complicated," Jason said. "But the sky is free."

"The sea is calm, when no one startles it and the sea is angry when someone shocks it. It moves in its own pattern, a different pattern than anything else. The sea takes all your memories, sadness and worries away once you step in it, and you will relax. But it can be you biggest fear as well. All you need to do, is make it a friend," a voice told them from behind.

Piper and Jason turned to see Annabeth, staring out into the sea. "I've learned that the hard way," she told them. "But now, we get along."

"You mean you and Percy?" Piper asked. She didn't want to say the name, but there was an urge to say it.

Annabeth's eyes grew sad as she shook her head. "No, not Percy. He's kind and gentle. I meant Poseidon," she told us. "Don't you see the sea now? It's reflecting our mood. I'm a little sad, and sea moves back and forth slower than usual. It's even quieter. But the sea is a little excited as well, because it feels the excitement buried deep inside us. The excitement of going to Greece."

Piper looked at the sea and saw Annabeth was right. She turned to Annabeth. "How was _he_ like the sea?"

"The sea is calm and gentle, and it only attacks when necessary. It's carefree and loose. Not to mention bubbly and hyper. But it has its own way of things. Percy is exactly like that."

"You know him pretty well, don't you?" Jason asked. Annabeth nodded sadly Piper continued to stare at the sea.

"I'll be at that side of the beach if you need me," Annabeth told them, and made her way to the left side of the beach. She sat in front of the view of the Poseidon cabin. Piper smiled sadly.

"I feel sorry for her," she suddenly said, causing Jason to look at her. She continued to stare at the sky. "She must have loved Percy so much. She's breaking down not seeing him."

Jason looked away, as if he felt guilty. Immediately, Piper's Aphrodite senses turned on. She understood why Jason had tried to avoid her that day. She should be surprised that Jason confronted her and spent some time with her, but she forgot everything just sitting at the beach. "Jason, you alright?"

"Yeah, I need to go," he said, getting up, he was about to leave, but Piper grabbed his hand.

"You can tell me. I think I already know," she whispered softly. It was a sad whisper, but there was some comfort in it as well. "Look, I don't care if you choose me or if you don't. I'm just happy for you. You got that, Sparky?"

Jason turned to look at her. Even though her heart hurt saying that, she was happy for Jason, no matter what. Jason smiled. "You're a strong girl, you know that?"

Piper blushed. "Thanks Jas," she told him. "Hey, I just remembered something. Chiron wanted to talk to us about the Prophecy. I'll go get Rachel, and maybe you can go get Annabeth and Leo back in Bunker 9."

Jason smiled and nodded. He rushed off to the other side, while Piper hurried to the opposite direction. Piper's heart broke a little, but she promised that if Jason was happy, then she was happy. That was the promise she had made herself.

**-TSON-**

(**A/N: This is for all those who are wondering why only 7 demigods are going to Greece. But I also have another trick up my sleeve ;)**)"Alright!" Chiron announced. Around the table were Annabeth, Leo, Piper, Jason and Rachel. Malcolm was there too. Apparently, Chiron wanted to discuss about the strategy of fighting the giants. "We need to come up with a strategy. Somehow, I have a feeling that if only seven of you go, you will most likely fail."

Malcolm sighed. "He's right. We should probably bring a couple of campers from the Roman camp and from our camp. That way they could help fight them off," he said.

"But the prophecy clearly said _seven_ half-bloods. If we bring a couple more, it would be against the prophecy," Jason piped in.

"I agree with Jason," Annabeth seconded.

Piper and Leo watched the game between Team Against-the-Oracle and Team Stick-to-the-Oracle. Rachel was shifting her feet uncomfortably. Finally, Annabeth said, "Why not we listen to the prophecy again? That might give us a final decision."

Everyone agreed, and Rachel began quoting,

"_Seven half-bloods shall answer the call_

_To storm or fire, the world must fall_

_An oath to keep with a final breath_

_And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death"_

No one said a word. The prophecy was too confusing. Piper didn't know what to make of it. _Seven half-bloods shall answer the call_… does that mean only seven? Or does that mean seven shall fight with a little help? She hated prophecies. They were always confusing. She sighed, which caused everyone to look at her. "Sorry," she muttered.

"Well, I guess it is clear. Only seven shall go to Greece, despite my plans," Chiron declared, and Piper saw Annabeth smirk. "You can go now, all of you." Everyone nodded, and headed outside.

"Well, looks like it's time for our shift," Jason said, looking at Piper. Piper laughed a warm laugh and smiled.

They made their way through part of the forest before getting to the safe route. In no time at all, they were at Bunker 9. How Leo got there before they did, Piper didn't know. Leo always has tricks up his sleeves, and she didn't want to know what this one was.

"Leo!" Nyssa called. She came out of the ship covered in motor oil and dust. Piper scooped up a wet towel and tossed it to Nyssa. Nyssa smiled gratefully before wiping off the motor oil and dirt off her face. "We finished fixing the engine. The inside is coming along great. Piper's cabin is all done and the IM-ing room is finished. We just need help with the pipes," she reported, before grabbing a hammer and a wrench and disappearing inside the ship.

Leo turned to Piper and Jason. "Well, Jason, you can help carry Pipes' siblings there to the IM-ing room," he joked, pointing to some pipes in the corner. Piper glared at him. "Oh, of course. Beauty queen wants to spend some quality time with her family."

Piper punched him on the shoulder, causing Leo to curse in Ancient Greek. Piper helped Jason picked some pipes up. As she was about to enter the ship, Leo shouted, "I hope the family reunion ends well!"

Piper gave him one last glare before entering the ship. She had never been inside the ship before. Partly because it didn't exist… yet. But now, they had created the walls to separate the rooms. All they need to do is fill in some of the rooms with furniture, others with armory, and some others with tools. The only room that had a door and the front wall, separating it from the corridor was the engine room. How'd she know? The words 'Engine Room' was written in Ancient Greek, and below it, in Latin.

Piper passed the room. Piper saw a hall towards her left. Further down that hall, she could see the cabins. Her cabin's door was wide open, and she could see a bed, a bedside table, a desk, some shelves and a drawer to keep her clothes in. Not too fancy. It will do.

Piper followed Jason pass the hall of cabins. She struggled to keep the pipes, since she was carrying a lot of them. Jason saw this and immediately asked, "Need help?"

Piper shook her head, even though she _did_ need help. Jason hesitated before walking again. "Where's the IM-ing room?" Piper asked.

"Just down the hall – I think," Jason said. Piper sighed. Finally, after asking some Hephaestus kids for direction, they found the IM-ing room. There were two fountains, just in case. The fountains didn't have water flowing out of them. Light shone from the corner. Piper hadn't noticed, but there were small windows at the top of the wall they were facing. Nyssa and another Hephaestus kid were working on the fountain.

"Wait – I thought you guys were working on Project 10," Jason said. Nyssa looked up and smiled. The Hephaestus kid helped take the pipes off Piper's hands and Nyssa helped Jason.

"We were," Nyssa said. "But we needed to come back because it was our shift. So Penelope's trying to figure things out with Karen and two of my half-brothers."

The Hephaestus guy noticed me and smiled. "I believe we haven't met. The name's Shane," he said, holding out his hand.

Piper shook it. "Piper," she introduced.

"Hey, do guys mind calling my brother Ajax? He's somewhere down the hall," Nyssa told them.

"I'll go get him," Piper offered and headed down the hall. She approached the nearest Hephaestus kid. "Do you know where Ajax is?"

The kid looked up. "He went to the Engine Room. Ava said there was a problem," he said.

"Ava?" Piper asked. She didn't know a kid named Ava.

The kid nodded. "Avariella, daughter of Hephaestus. I'm Mike, by the way," he said.

"Piper. Thanks," she said, darting towards the engine room. Running errands was not her favorite job, but since it helped with the ship progress, she did it anyways. Now if she could only find the Engine Room…


	16. XVI: Leo

**Hey guys! Guess what? I posted three chapters today, just for you! I hope you enjoy. The chapters aren't probably as good as the usuals, because I'm currently in a case of a writer's block, but I hope you enjoy these three extra chapters :)**

* * *

><p>XVI<p>

Leo

Leo took the clipboard off his worktable. He checked the things that needed to be done. The Engine Room? Check. The IM-ing Room? Halfway done. The Navigation Room? Still putting up the glass. The cabins? Working on the second now. The armory? Now filling the place with blades, shotguns, arrows, bows, etc. The forge? Just need to place the final tools on the wall then it's done.

There was still a lot to do, but at least they're just placing the finishing touches. "Hey Leo! Help me put this drawer in Annabeth's cabin!" Jake yelled. It was nighttime and Leo offered to stay a few extra hours.

Leo hurried to help Jake place the drawer in Annabeth's room. "Hey, when do you think this Percy guy will arrive?" Leo asked, making his way to the cabins with the dresser and Jake.

"I don't know. Give it a few more days. Last time Annabeth saw him, or dreamt about him, he was in D.C. He should arrive in a couple of days," Jake said, opening the door to Annabeth's cabin. This night, everyone was focused on the cabins so that tomorrow, Leo's crew can focus on every other room.

"Well, I sure hope we'll be done in a few more days," Leo added. He yawned. He was getting tired; he's been working all day.

Jake noticed this and told him, "You go get some rest. You have a whole day of work tomorrow." Leo yawned again and checked the time. It was 11:30 P.M. He yawned again and nodded.

"See you in the morning," he told him, and ran down the safe route towards Cabin 9. He got in bed and slept.

**-TSON-**

That night he had a dream. But just not any dream, it was a dream of the future. It only showed clips, though. One of the clips showed a girl with dark curly hair and blue eyes with a boy with spiky blonde hair and piercing blue eyes and a guy with black hair and sea green eyes. Somehow, he knew who he was. This was Percy Jackson. Nearby, he saw Jason, Piper, Annabeth and himself, looking over the cliff the seven of them were standing on. He knew that these were the seven demigods from the prophecy.

The next clip showed them sailing to Greece, only to be attacked by lastrygonian giants. Sure, they were flying and all, but the giants attacked them from land, who were throwing huge fireballs at them, attacked them. He saw himself throwing the fireballs back.

The next clip showed the gods meeting them near Athens. Several giants were attacking the city, and they needed to defeat them. But the next clip showed several gods staying back to fight the giants while Athena, Zeus, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Apollo, Hermes, Hephaestus and Ares went aboard the ship flying towards Mount Olympus.

The next clip showed the hunters appearing to help before disappearing to help Artemis fight the giants in the city.

And the final clip showed them fighting side by side with the gods. But it showed two endings; one that showed them that they would win and the other showed the gods fading. Leo knew that these could be the results of the battle. He woke up with a start, ending the mini-slideshows.

**-TSON-**

"Leo!" Piper hissed. Leo's eyes flutter open, to face his best friend who was shaking him madly. "Annabeth called. She said it was important."

Leo yawned. "How about the harpies? They'll eat us if they see us out of bed!"

"We're an exception. A harpy caught me walking to your cabin. It was about to eat me, but I told her that there was an emergency concerning the Great Prophecy. We'll be fine. It told the other harpies we're an exception."

Leo yawned again. "What time is it?"

"2 A.M," Piper replied, glancing at the clock above Leo's head.

"What?" Leo hissed. "I've only gotten three hours of sleep and you wake me up?"

Piper rolled her eyes and threw him his army jacket. "Come on, Leo. Don't make me charmspeak you," she said, heading towards the door.

Leo grumbled and put on his jacket. He wondered what could be so important that he had to wake up in the middle of the night. He sighed, and walked over to Piper, who was outside. "Come on," he said, yawning. "So I can go back to sleep."

Piper elbowed him in the ribs and started walking towards the Zeus Cabin. Several harpies saw them, but ignored. Piper pushed the door of the Zeus Cabin open. "Yikes," Leo said, looking at the Zeus statue that was staring down at them. He shivered of the sight.

Piper walked over to Jason. "Jas," she whispered softly, "wake up."

Leo rolled his eyes. "So if you wanted to wake me up, you force me. But if you want to wake your future boyfriend, you persuade him. Jeez, that's nice." Piper just glared at him.

She filled her voice with confidence and said, "Jason, wake up. We have something to discuss." Leo saw the figure in the covers move, and Jason's eyes opened. He yawned.

"What time is it?" he asked. Leo decided to make a joke.

"It's already the eighth shift," he joked, but Jason didn't realize. He shot out of bed, grumbling about him being stupid. Piper glared at Leo while Leo burst out laughing. "Calm down man. I was only kidding. It's 2 A.M."

Jason calmed down and glared at him, before sighing. "Well, whatever the reason, it better be good."

"No time to explain," Piper said, grabbing his arm. "Annabeth said it was an emergency."

Jason seemed to snap awake and ran with Piper towards the big house. Leo couldn't help thinking, _ah, young love_. He snickered at the thought.

At the Big House, Annabeth was sitting impatiently with Chiron, waiting for them. When she saw them, she wanted to yell something, but Piper beat her to it. "Sorry," Piper apologized, "boys are deep-sleepers."

Annabeth just nodded and looked over at Chiron. "I had a dream," she began, "about Percy and his current location." Chiron gave her a look telling her to continue. "But the problem was, I couldn't contact him. He's in New York–"

"Wonderful!" Leo added.

"–But he's under attack. And he's got a mortal and a demigod that look about ten years old. They're heading for Sally's house," she finished.

"Are you suggesting we need to help them?" Chiron asked.

"Yes!" Annabeth shrieked, as if it was obvious. "I can't let him fight alone. I saw several _gegeines_, attacking them. We need to help Chiron! Please! Percy has never fought any one of those things and if he fails he…" her voice faltered as tears fell from her eyes. Leo understood what it was like to lose someone he loved. He felt bad for Annabeth. Piper started soothing her with words, but Annabeth ignored them.

"I'm afraid we cannot do that, child. We must wait for them to arrive here safely. However, we can send a _satyr_ to guide them to camp safely," Chiron said. Annabeth's eyes were filled with hatred.

Finally, the hatred vanished, and replaced with signs of defeat. "Fine," she grumbled. "But they have to arrive by _dawn_." And with that, she stormed off towards her cabin.

Chiron shook his head sympathetically. "I'm afraid the child has lost too many loved ones in her life," he said. Leo, Piper and Jason held quizzical looks, but Chiron ignored them. "Now, children. Go back to sleep. Unless you have something important to tell us."

"Yes," Leo suddenly blurted out. Wait – what? He didn't even know why he said that. Curse his ADHD, always making him blurt things out by accident. Chiron raised an eyebrow, and suddenly, Leo found himself telling him all about his dreams. Piper and Jason looked confused as well as excited as Leo rambled on and on about the prophecy.

Chiron stroked his beard. "Very well. It sounds like a strategy. I shall tell Annabeth first thing in the morning. As for now, we need to find a satyr that Percy could trust…"

"I'll help!" a voice said. Out of the shadows, a satyr with a bad case of acne and a wispy beard came scrambling towards us. "I'm happy to help!"

Chiron smiled at the satyr and bowed a little towards him. He then looked at us. "This is Jason, Piper and Leo. They're new demigods. One of them is Roman," he started, looking at Jason, "the others are Greeks. Now, aren't you supposed to be traveling?"

The satyr blushed a little. "Yeah, but you see, I thought I could have a little break. Now about this news… is it true? How's Annabeth handling it?"

Everyone just stood in silence, and the satyr knew that the dreading news he had heard was true. He was informed about it months ago, and he promised that he would keep a look out for him just in case. He tried to use the empathy link, but he couldn't reach him, as if some sort of force was blocking him from reaching him.

Finally, Chiron spoke up, "Yes, it's true. Annabeth's not handling it very well. You see, Annabeth's been having dreams, and somehow, she was able to reach him from time to time. But it's not an empathy link. But for the past few days, she wasn't able to reach him for some reason, even if she wanted to. No dreams about him. And just now, she received a dream, showing her that Percy was near his home in New York. Judging Percy, he would most probably be resting by now. That is, if he defeated the _gegeines_ already."

The satyr nodded. "And you need a satyr to direct him to camp?"

"Yes," Chiron replied. "But do not show them where it exactly is. This is Percy's home and I believe he is on a quest. Best if he figured out where the camp is himself."

The satyr nodded, and turned to the demigods. "Sorry. We didn't forget you were here," he lied, but Leo could tell he was lying because he was feeling uncomfortable. Piper warned him not to blurt something out, so he stayed quiet. "I'm Grover, Lord of the Wild, Chosen One of Pan and Vice Leader of the Council of Cloven Elders," he introduced. The three demigods gawked at him.

"That's a lot of titles for a satyr. I bet Coach Hedge didn't even have one besides 'Protector'," Leo said, and Grover just smiled. Piper glared at him, telling him to be nice, but Leo just shrugged. It was a compliment, wasn't it?

"Thanks," Grover said and Leo gave Piper a 'see, I told you so!' look. Piper rolled her eyes and Jason tried not to laugh. He whispered something in Piper's ear and Piper smiled. Leo couldn't hear it, but he only thought of one thing: young love.

Chiron cleared his throat. "You kids better go back to bed. It's late, and you've got a busy day ahead of you," Chiron said, and Leo, Jason and Piper started heading back to their respective cabins. Dawn would arrive soon, and Annabeth wanted Percy to be at camp by then.

"Good luck, goat boy," Leo muttered, before falling into a nice, deep sleep.


	17. XVII: Percy

XVII

Percy

Percy woke up to the sound of bleating. He knew the sound. It was a goat. But what would a goat be doing around here? They arrived in New York last night, and they were almost at the address Annabeth had given them. They didn't have much money left, so they slept in the car. Now, he starts hearing bleating noises, like a goat's. He couldn't help but wake Frank, who was sitting in the passenger's seat.

"Psst," Percy hissed. "Frank, wake up. I hear bleating noises." Frank opened his eyes a little, before mumbling, "It's nothing."

Percy sighed and went outside. The bleating noises got louder as he got nearer to the alley. He held on to Riptide. Something didn't feel right about this alley. He got nearer and the bleating noises turned into loud booming chuckles. Three words appeared in Percy's mind: George and Harry.

He started running out of the alley, but George beat him to it. "Going somewhere, demigod? You're just in time for breakfast!" he boomed, and he started to grab for Percy.

Percy dodged, uncapping Riptide during the process. He was still tired from the _gegeines_ attack last night. Isabel had taken off her hairclip last night and sprung into action, battling with a wand. She suddenly started muttering simple spells in Ancient Greek, but she had no idea where it came from. Unfortunately, the wand couldn't turn back into a hairclip. During last night, they had Apollo's help, since Hazel kept muttering and rubbing her necklace in a sign of prayer. Apollo promised to answer her prayer when she was in seriously deadly situations, as long as she rubbed her necklace. He said it would help him get his attention better, but Percy wasn't sure.

Harry arrived from behind, throwing a dumpster at him. Percy dodged, but missed it by several inches. George grabbed for him again, and Percy cut his arm, leaving a good size cut. He went around George, who was still staring at his wound, and straight to the car.

"Guys!" he yelled. Harry was right on his heels. "Guys! I have two Cyclopes trying to fight me!"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, music sounded, and vines grew at the Cyclops's feet. The vines circled him and held him in place. Harry could only say one thing. "Hey!"

Percy started to look at where the music was coming from, but he had no time. George finally forgot his wound and chased him. He banged on the car window. "Guys!" Percy yelled one more time. Finally, Frank woke up, and saw George almost grabbing Percy.

"Perce, look out!" he yelled, and George ended up banging the car, leaving a huge dent on the door.

Frank grabbed his sword and arrived next to Percy. They slashed at George, but they were still hurt and tired from last night's attack. Suddenly, vines started to grow, wrapping George as it grew. Frank and Percy just stood there, watching in awe.

A satyr appeared, blowing into something that looked like panpipes, and the vines seemed to grow as the music went on. Finally, when the Cyclopes were all wrapped up, the satyr stopped. "Hey Perce. You might not remember me, but I'm Grover, your protector," the satyr introduced.

Percy racked his brains for someone named Grover. Was there a satyr named Grover in his life? "You're a satyr. I mean, a faun," Percy corrected.

Grover shook his head. "Satyr. Don't let the Romans get to you. Don't you remember me?"

Percy shook his head sadly. "I wish I did, but all I remember is…" Percy started, but his voice trailed off. Annabeth. How was she doing now? Does she know that he's close to home? He wasn't sure if the satyr was a friend.

Grover's face turned sad. "If you're worried about Annabeth, she's fine. She wanted you to be at camp by dawn, but as you can see…" he said, pointing to the sky. Dawn passed ages ago. He turned back to Percy. "Perce, you got to trust me man. I've been on your every quest. The first quest to retrieve the lightning bolt, the second to get the Golden Fleece, the third to rescue Annabeth and Artemis and the fourth to scout the labyrinth," he said, trying to get Percy's memories back.

"I… I did all that?" Percy asked, unsure. He must be pretty popular back at home.

Grover hesitated. "Anyways, you need to come back. What's a camp without their leader?"

Frank choked. "He's their leader? So that means…" Frank's face lit up. "Jason! Jason's at your camp! Isn't that right, faun?"

"I don't know," he said, but he hesitated at the beginning. Percy rolled his eyes.

"You need to learn to lie better, G-man," he told him, and Grover's eyes widened. Suddenly, another headache attacked him. He grabbed his head frantically. A piece of his memory returned. Grover. Grover the satyr. Lord of the Wild, Chosen One of Pan and Vice Leader of the Council of Cloven Elders. His best friend.

Grover helped Frank steady Percy. Just about then, Isabel, Sanders and Hazel woke up, getting out of the car. "Percy! You alright?" Hazel exclaimed, grabbing Percy's hand and trying to stable him as well.

Percy stood up straight, and said, "Yeah." He turned to Grover. "Hey G-man. It's been a long time since we last saw each other," he said, sticking out his hand. Grover shook it, relieved that Percy finally regained his memories.

"OK… who is this?" Hazel asked. Percy forgot that she was sleeping during the time the Cyclopes attacked.

"Oh, this is Grover, my protector. He was the one who found me when I was twelve," Percy explained.

"Protector?" Hazel asked.

Percy nodded. "Unlike the Romans, we send satyrs out to find demigods and the satyrs are called protectors. Their job is to get the demigods to camp safely. He found me five years ago," he explained. Hazel just nodded.

"So basically he's a kid with furry goat legs?" Sanders asked, and Hazel glared at him. He shrugged. It was the truth.

Grover just smiled. "Is he a demigod?"

Hazel shook her head. "He's my stepbrother. Mortal. But I think he can see through the mist," Hazel explained. "But sometimes, when he sees monsters, he think of them as people in costumes." Sanders glared at her.

"This is Isabella Brookes. We don't know who her mother is, though," Percy explained. Grover just nodded.

"OK, well, I've been assigned to show you the direction to camp, but I can't show you exactly where it is," he said sadly.

"Why not?" Isabel asked.

Grover pointed at Sanders. "There's a reason Apollo sent him. That's where he comes in. He'll know where it is. Here," he explained, handing them a card, "this is the _real_ address of the camp. Annabeth could only lead you back to your mom, because mortals can't really send packages to camp."

Percy struggled to read it. It was written in English, and even worse, in _cursive_. He groaned. Frank took a look at it and tried to decipher it. Hazel took a look at it as well, and tried to make it out as well. Sanders groaned and took it from Percy's grasp. "Camp Half-Blood, Half-Blood Hill, Farm Road 3.141," he read.

Isabel took a look and squinted her eyes. "Long Ice– Long Island, New York," she read, trying to get the numbers. Sanders looked at it.

"11954," he read swiftly. It pays to have a mortal with you.

Grover smiled in the corner. "I must go now. I'll go tell Chiron and Annabeth that you're on the way, before resuming my duties. I'll see you later Perce," he said, and he disappeared into the alley.

"Alright, now we need to get to Farm Road 3.141 and just see what we could do from there," Hazel said. Percy nodded and got into the driver's seat. Frank rode shotgun, and Hazel, Sanders and Isabel sat behind. They were on their way to Camp Half-Blood.

"I don't see anything!" Hazel groaned. It's been a long time, and they've been searching for the camp for ages. "Why must they put a second layer? It would be easier if they only put one!"

"Don't blame them! If they put only one, think of all the _gegeines_ that would be able to spot camp!" Percy said, defending his camp. He felt the presence of someone watching them, waiting for them to pass the border.

Sanders groaned. "I told you guys before. It's not here! It's way over there!" Sanders said, pointing further north.

"You can't see it, can you?" Hazel asked.

"I can! Remember what Grover said? This is where I come in. I'm supposed to help Percy get back to his camp," Sanders argued. Hazel sighed and motioned Sanders to lead the way.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, storm spirits appeared. "If it isn't the hero of Olympus," one said, smirking at Percy. "I cannot let you get to your camp." It lunged at Percy, trying to grab him.

Percy dodged, and uncapped Riptide. He slashed at the storm spirit, but his blade just passed through. The storm spirit laughed. It shot lightning at Percy, but Percy dodged it, thanks to a person he didn't recognize.

"Hey Dylan! Came back for more?" he said. Frank and Hazel just stared at him, shocked to see him. In his hand was a gladius, a Roman sword. But not just any gladius – it was the Juno's Gladius, the gladius Percy read in stories and books.

Dylan the storm spirit hissed at him. "I see you haven't learned your lesson," he said, chuckling. "Time for revenge!"

Dylan shot a bolt at him, and Percy heard Hazel and Frank yell, "Jason, watch out!" But the demigod stood his ground. The lightning hit him, but all it did was make his clothes smelled burned. "I think you've learned your lesson," he said, smirking.

He charged at Dylan and slashed the gladius at him. Immediately, Dylan turned into dust. The demigod looked at Percy. "Look, I'm even supposed to be here. So if you meet Chiron, Perce, tell him you didn't see me," he told Percy, and darted towards the woods.

"Follow him!" Sanders yelled, and started running after the demigod. Hazel and Frank looked at each other and followed him. Percy grabbed Isabel's hand and ran after the rest of them.

When Percy stopped running, he found Sanders attacked by more storm spirits. A huge wind was blowing in, and Dylan the storm spirit was back.

Sanders yelled in fear and Hazel was busy shooting arrows which seemed pretty much hopeless. Frank was attacked by some storm spirits and he was trying to slash at them with his sword. Unfortunately, he wasn't so lucky.

"Percy, what are we going to do?" Isabel asked in fear. Percy uncapped Riptide once more. Isabel got the message and took out her wand. "Pligés!" she yelled, which basically meant, "Curses!" in Ancient Greek.

A red beam headed towards Dylan, but Dylan hit it away, causing it to hit one of the other storm spirits. The storm spirit went rogue, shooting electricity at everything in sight. Percy gave Isabel a skeptical look, and Isabel just shrugged. Percy charged towards the nearest storm spirit and slashed. He was, however, unlucky.

Sanders made his way from the circle of storm spirits and behind Hazel, who was shooting arrows for her life. She was running out of them, and she didn't want to use her special stash of arrows.

"Don't worry, Haze!" Frank yelled, dodging a bolt. "I have an extra quiver in my backpack! But it's way over there!" Frank pointed to a tree far away from her. Hazel shot her last arrow.

"I'll get it!" Isabel offered. "Káto ápo tin entolí mou!" A read beam made its way to a storm spirit nearby. It got shock by the red beam, and its eyes glowed red. It made its way towards Isabel. Hazel tried to stop it, but it just hit her away.

"Get the backpack," Isabel commanded, pointing to Frank's backpack, "and give it to me." The storm spirit nodded, shooting bolts at fellow storm spirits that came in its way.

Percy watched Isabel as he dodged and attacked, but his attacks were no use. He slashed at a storm spirit and finally, it turned to dust. But it was reforming – fast.

It started to rain overhead, pouring water all over the place. Water. That was it. Percy concentrated on the water that was around them, and created a gush of water, heading for Dylan. Immediately, he was knocked out of place.

The storm spirit that was under Isabel's command gave the backpack to Isabel, who tossed it to Hazel. Hazel quickly found another quiver of Imperial Gold arrows and started shooting.

"Shoot bolts at the storm spirits!" Isabel commanded her storm spirit slave. It started shooting bolts at its friends, and the friends got confused. While chaos erupted, Isabel yelled, "Pligés!"

A red beam hit Dylan on the spot, turning him to dust. The rest of the storm spirits retreated, afraid that their commander had 'died'. The slave storm spirit's eyes stopped glowing red. Once it saw that its friends were gone, it disappeared in thin air.

"We got to find Camp Half-Blood," Percy said.

Sanders walked over to them, soaked from top to bottom. The rain had stopped and the sky was clear all around. "I found the entrance," he said. "Come on, follow me."

The gang followed Sanders a little further north. "Here," he said. "Right through there."

Percy, Frank and Hazel looked at each other and nodded. They grabbed each other's hands and stepped through the border.


	18. XVIII: Hazel

XVIII

Hazel

Camp Half-Blood was the most beautiful thing Hazel had ever seen. It was different from Camp Legion. Instead of looking like a boot camp with trees all over the place, it looked like a dreamland. In the center of it all were several cabins in the Greek letter Omega shape. There were about twenty cabins in all.

A lake was nearby along with a volleyball court. Campers were busy running everywhere. Hazel looked to her right. A pine tree stood and a dragon was curled up around it. The Golden Fleece hung on its branches, keeping the camp safe.

Further north of the cabins was a mess hall, and nearby was a climbing wall, where campers were trying to climb it as fast as they can, avoiding being cooked by lava or thrown off the wall. South of the wall was an amphitheater.

On her left side were some strawberry fields. Near the fields was a big blue house. North of the fields were some stables, an armory and an arena. Further north was the woods.

"Wow," Hazel breathed. It was amazing. "Where do you think we should meet your friends?"

Percy hesitated. He was staring at a blue cabin. Hazel recognized it immediately. The Neptune Cabin, or as they might say it, the Poseidon Cabin. To Hazel, the Greek names didn't feel right. "Let's try that big blue house," he pointed. Hazel nodded, and together, the five of them made there way there.

Hazel didn't really see where she was going. She was too busy thinking about the borders. If Sanders was a mortal, how could he get through? Borders were supposed to keep mortals and monsters out, so how could her little brother gotten through?

Hazel's thoughts were cut short when a centaur was walking towards them with a girl about Percy's age yelling behind him. She had curly blond hair and startling gray eyes. Immediately, Hazel knew who she was. Annabeth Chase, Percy's girlfriend.

Her eyes stung and her heart was filled with pain as Annabeth and the centaur grew closer to them. She felt someone squeeze her shoulder. She looked up to see Frank giving her a comforting smile.

"I told you I wanted him to be here by _dawn_! Now he's probably lost! I wanted to get him, but you didn't listen to me!" Annabeth yelled, her eyes streaming with tears. Hazel felt sorry for Annabeth for a moment. She suddenly realized why she felt sorry. She looked at Sanders. Annabeth lost Percy, a person she really loves and cares about. She lost Sanders. In other words, she knew how she felt.

"Annabeth dear, calm down. I heard a camper disobeyed the rules and went to help Percy with the attack of some _anemoi thuellai_. I'm sure he's fine," the centaur replied.

Percy cleared his throat. The two looked up from their argument and Annabeth's eyes widened. Hazel could see Percy starting to blush. What had her mother say to her about loved ones? When the right time comes, let them go.

Hazel smiled. Frank looked at her and gave her a look that asked, 'you OK?' Hazel nodded. Sanders looked at his sister and understood what she was thinking about. He nodded, as if he was telling him that her mother would've said the same thing.

Annabeth rushed pass the centaur and tackled Percy into a hug. "Percy! I've missed you so much!" she said, crying into his shirt. Percy just smiled and slipped his arms around her waist.

Suddenly, a yell burst out. "Annabeth!" A girl with dark hair and electric blue eyes appeared, with Jason tailing right behind her. She gasped when she saw Percy. "No way," was all she said.

Annabeth looked up from her hug with Percy and let go. The girl came over and hugged him, before grabbing his shoulder and shocked him with a little electricity. "That's for leaving Annabeth," she said, glaring at him.

Percy just smiled. "Do I know you?"

The girl rolled her eyes. Jason came over. "I'm Jason, the camper who disobeyed orders," he said, eyeing the centaur. The centaur just nodded, forgiving him. "I was the one who saved you from the venti attacks, but I think more came after you. I couldn't help, sorry."

"You're the leader of Camp Legion?" Percy asked, shaking Jason's hand.

"So that's the camp's name. Camp Legion. Makes sense I guess," he grinned. Jason turned to Frank and Hazel who were watching the whole commotion. "Hey guys. Miss me?"

Frank shook hands with him while Hazel hugged him. "I can't wait to tell Reyna that we've found you! She's worried sick!" Hazel exclaimed. Jason started to look uncomfortable. "Oh, sorry."

Jason just smiled and turned to Percy. "As I was saying, I'm Jason Grace, son of Jupiter. This here, is Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, my sister." Hazel gasped when she heard that Thalia was his sister. Jason just smiled at her.

Suddenly, a boy popped out of nowhere. "Hey couz!" he yelled, slamming into Percy.

"Get off of me, Nico," Percy grumbled. He winced for a second and grabbed his head. Annabeth rushed to help, but Percy told her he was fine. "Just started to remember bits of memories."

Percy stood up with the help of Annabeth. Finally, Nico spoke up, breaking the silence, "Finally! We can have Big Three fights like we used to! By the way, you missed one a couple days ago."

This time, Frank choked on the water he was drinking. "Big Three?" he asked. He knew the Big Three: Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto.

Nico nodded. "Nico di Angelo," he introduced, "son of Hades."

"I'm Frank," Frank introduced. Apparently, he has never even bothered with surnames. "Son of Mercury. Or in Greek, Hermes."

Suddenly a girl appeared with three boys behind her. The girl had choppy chocolate brown hair and eyes that changes color from brown, to blue, to green. Two boys behind her looked identical, except for the fact that one was taller than the other. They both had brown hair and blue eyes. The last one had curly black hair and warm brown eyes. His face had elfish figures, and he looked like a Latino Elf. As soon as Hazel saw him, she felt mesmerized.

The girl turned to the centaur. "Chiron, Travis and Connor has been making trouble again," the girl reported, glaring at the identical boys. The boys, however, weren't bothered to look at Chiron the centaur. They were too busy staring at Percy, who had his arms around Annabeth's waist.

"No way!" they yelled. "Good to have you back buddy. I'm guessing you don't remember us."

"I'm Travis," the taller one greeted.

"And I'm Connor," the shorter one introduced.

"And together," they started, "we're the Menacing Stolls!"

Everyone who knew them rolled their eyes, while Percy chuckled with Frank. Suddenly, Sanders blurted, "You sound like acrobats from a circus." That cracked everyone up.

"Sons of Hermes," Connor greeted, shaking Frank's hand. His hand was the only hand that was sticking out. Frank smiled at his Greek half-brothers.

"Leo Valdez," the boy with curly black hair introduced. "Son of… Vulcan!"

The girl rolled her eyes at the boys' behavior and muttered something about boys and brains. Finally, she stepped forward. "I'm Piper, daughter of Aphrodite," she introduced.

Hazel and Frank nodded. Hazel's eyes were fixed on Leo. "I'm Hazel Olson, daughter of Apollo," she greeted.

"Wait, so you mean that dude that went to pick you up for camp was Apollo," Sanders asked. Hazel mentally did a facepalm.

Percy cleared his throat. "Uh, we found a new demigod. We're not sure who's her godly parent," Percy said, looking at Isabel, who had stayed quiet this whole time. Behind Leo, two girls appeared. They gasped when they saw Percy.

Leo told them something, and one the girls cleared their throats. "Sorry to bother Chiron, but the ship is almost ready. We just need to work on the pipes–" Leo snickered when they said that, and Piper glared at him. "–and then we're ready to go."

Chiron nodded. Suddenly, the other girl gasped. "No way," she said. She rushed over to Isabel and took her wand out of her belt. She looked at her. "You're a daughter of Hecate!"

"Penelope dear, how can you be sure?" Chiron asked. Suddenly, as if on cue, an image of a dog appeared above her, and shimmering twin torches and keys glowed around the dog. Chiron started bowing down. He said something with hail and daughter, but Hazel wasn't paying attention.

Once the hailing was done, Chiron told Penelope to take Isabel to the Hecate cabin. Isabel asked Sanders to come with, so he followed her. Once Penelope and her friend were gone, Chiron told the Stolls to go inside, leaving Thalia, Nico, Annabeth, Frank, Hazel, Piper, Leo and Jason outside with the old centaur. "I haven't properly introduced myself," the centaur said. "Chiron's the name. I'm sure you must have heard from the campers."

Chiron gave Thalia a look and Thalia dragged Nico away. "Now, as for the seven of the prophecy," he said, looking at the remainders.

"What prophecy?" Frank asked.

Jason stepped forward and started speaking in Latin,

"_Septem dimidum vocant sanguinum exaudiet_

_Ut vel incedii tempestate, mundo decidat_

_Iusiurandum ne cum extremo spiritu_

_Et hostes ad arma arcu mortis"_

Frank and Hazel nodded, understanding that this was the second Great Prophecy. The others just looked bizarre and confused. Frank and Hazel have heard this prophecy before, last summer. "So we're the seven?" Hazel asked, finally, getting the courage.

Chiron nodded. "Yes, and you will leave for Greece as soon as possible."

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><p><strong>So we're all done with this Son of Neptune! But I promise a new story will be coming out. The sequel to this Son of Neptune story! But I sorta need help coming up with a title. There's a poll on my profile, but if you have some interesting ideas, send me a PM or a review. Thanks a bunch and love all the support you gave me!<strong>

**xoxo,**

**Winona**


	19. XIX: BONUS CHAPTER

**Because of all your great love and support, and for so many favorites on this story, I'm giving you a PERCABETH BONUS CHAPTER! I hope you like it! Consider this a gift to all the readers out there ;)**

* * *

><p>XIX<p>

Percy

Percy sat down on the beach, trying to recollect his thoughts. Today was the busiest day of all. In the distance, he could hear Penelope teaching Isabel cool spells like how to turn monsters or people into animals or making them do stupid things under your command.

Hazel and Frank had gone off with Piper, Jason and Leo to take a tour of camp, while he went around camp, trying to regain his memories. No such luck. He was stuck. He asked Annabeth to help, but she was busy with her cabin's activities and promised to help him later on.

Percy sighed and stared at the ocean. "Hey," a voice greeted him. Percy smiled. He didn't need to turn around to know who that was. He knew this person all his life.

"Hey Wise Girl," he greeted, smiling at the ocean. Annabeth took a seat next to him.

"So, I remembered you needed help," Annabeth recalled, eyeing him suspiciously.

Percy sighed. "I wish I could remember my past," Percy said, and the waves grew quiet. The rushing of the ocean slowed down, as if it felt the tension Percy was feeling at the moment.

Annabeth grabbed his hand. "I wish I could help, but it's forbidden," she said. "But I can help you pick the pieces up and place them together. Now, what do you remember? What's your earliest memory?"

"You feeding me something like pudding," Percy said.

"Ambrosia. Anything else?" Annabeth stroked his hand softly. Percy smiled. She missed him a lot.

Percy grabbed her around the waist and pulled her closer to him. "Something about the summer solstice. And something stolen. Grover mentioned something about 'retrieving the lightning bolt'," Percy recalled.

"Well, that was your first quest. I was feeding you ambrosia because of your first monster attack, the Minotaur attack. And then you were accused of stealing Zeus' Lightning Bolt, and he asked for it to be returned by the summer solstice. Does that clear everything up?"

"My mom – she wasn't…" his voice trailed off, and he suddenly tensed even more. So did the ocean.

Annabeth held his hand and stroked it soothingly. Percy relaxed a little, but he was still tensed. The silence held the answer to Percy's question: it was a 'yes'.

"How about the second quest? Something with the Golden Fleece," Percy asked, breaking the silence.

"Remember anything else?"

Percy shook his head. "Then I'm afraid I can't tell you anything," Annabeth said, and Percy gave her a playful shove. Annabeth pretended to look hurt, before they burst out laughing. "I haven't laughed like that in ages," Annabeth muttered, causing Percy to stop laughing.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked, obviously confused.

"Gods, you _are_ a Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, and chuckled lightly. Percy gave her a quizzical look, but she shook her head. Percy got that as a sign that she didn't want to talk about it.

"You've definitely groan thinner," Percy noted. "And you probably didn't get much sleep, considering the bags under your eyes."

Annabeth winced. "You noticed," she whispered.

Percy stroked her hair. "Of course. My girlfriend hasn't been eating or sleeping well. Do you really think I don't worry about that?"

A tear slid from Annabeth's eyes. "Sorry," she whispered. "I was scared. Losing you all over again. I just lost the will to live. But…" her voice faltered, as if the answer was obvious.

"You did it for me," Percy said. "You tried to stay strong for me."

Annabeth nodded sadly. "I'm sorry that I didn't eat or sleep. It's just–"

Percy pressed his lips against hers, cutting her off. Immediately, he felt a jolt of electricity run through his back. His arms slid around her waist, and her arms made its way up to his neck. She tangled her fingers in his hair, as Percy pulled her closer, deepening the kiss. After what seemed for eternity – but for the couple only a few minutes – they broke apart, because of the need of air.

"I missed doing that," Percy whispered at her. Annabeth blushed crimson. "I missed you. Your beautiful long blond hair, your sparkling, gray eyes that always seem to analyze me and find a way to bring me down, your presence. Everything about you."

Annabeth laughed. "Have I ever told you that you're cheesy?" she asked, and Percy just grinned widely. "But you know what? I love it."

"I don't," Percy said, causing Annabeth to frown. "I love you."

Annabeth smiled. "I love you too, Seaweed Brain." And once again, they kissed, more passionately than ever.

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><p><strong>Thank you all who supported me throughout the Son of Neptune! Special thanks to Regina de Morte, booklover484 and my new friend xxbella-edwardxx who supported me on and on throughout this entire story. I've never gotten more than 10 reviews... so 45 reviews mean a lot to me!<strong>

**xoxo,**

**Winona**


	20. AUTHOR'S NOTE: SEQUEL IS UP!

**THIS IS AN A/N!**

**The sequel to "The Son of Neptune" is up! Go check it out now! Title: The Final Battle**

**Tell me what you guys think of it, then I will post the 2nd chapter, which I already have :) If you like it, be sure to review! The first chapter doesn't have much action though... and they haven't sailed to Greece yet... but tell me if you want more, then I will update :D**

**you can either:**

**a) go to my profile and click the story or**

**b) copy paste this link and erase all the spaces: h t t p : / / w w w . f a n f i c t i o n . n e t / s / 7 2 4 3 4 8 9 / 1 / T h e _ F i n a l _ B a t t l e**

**Read and review! Love you all!**


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